Under the Radar

Sorry I have been 'under the radar' lately, I have checked many of your blogs as I could but as I will explain I have not had good internet service.

In the past few weeks I have been working on a small mountain farm my wife and I purchased in the North Georgia mountains, it is about 9 miles from town and until recently I had to travel to town to receive a WI-fi service.

 The property was badly neglected and needed a lot of clean up. I have spent days on the tractor cutting hay and trying to make it workable.

I hope to be able to post more in the coming days as time allows. Right now I am living in two places at once and traveling over 400 miles back and forth to Florida every few weeks to take care of business.

It has been raining here fairly steady for 2 days now and is not expected to let up for a while so I am using the chance to catch up on my blog.


Hope you all have a good weekend and stay safe.

Government is Correct (sometimes)

I hate to admit it, I always thought the government had the wrong ideas about everything but sometimes they get it exactly right.

While doing some research about national parks I came across a policy that said "do not feed wildlife" it went on to say "feeding wildlife creates dependency and leads to overpopulation" 

Maybe the National Park Service should forward this policy to the Food Stamp Administration.

And you wonder why the welfare class is growing so much.

Sometimes even stupid people make a point.

I was listening to a news report regarding raising the minimum wage and some idiot being interviewed said "why should someone working for McDonalds in Denmark make $15 an hour and I can't here in the US" I admit sometimes ignorance makes me speechless but my first instinct was to say "because you don't live in Denmark you idiot" It did get me to thinking so I did some checking.
Most minimum wage people here in the US pay little or no income taxes after deductions and even if they did the lowest tax rate is 15% on the other hand if a McDonalds employee in Denmark makes $15 an hour their lowest tax rate is 45% so that $15 per hour turns into $8.25 take home. On top of that their overall their cost of living is higher, gasoline averages $8.55 a gallon, an average pair of Levis cost $145 and the average cost of a Big Mac meal in Denmark is $8.20 USD compared to about $5.75 here.
I guess ignorance is bliss, I am sure if wages go up here our businesses will just eat the expense for the good of the employee and I am equally sure government will waive the higher tax brackets to help out the struggling workers as well.

Mothers Day

Special days like this can be happy and sad. Mothers day for me is a mixture, I am happy I have my mom to share good memories with and she is in good health which is a blessing. I am also sad for all my children who lost their mother, for them it is a sad reminder.

I wish all mothers a happy mothers day and for those who are hurting I pray a special blessing for you today.

In Honor of Earth Day

Today is supposed to be earth day, I see things like this bumper sticker which get me thinking.
Maybe it is not right that we take so much from the earth and not give back so I had an idea, I have quite a few gallons of used motor oil I was hoping to recycle in some way but that would be selfish of me so I am giving it back to the earth, I will pour it all out on the ground and return it from wince it came. I can attest there is nothing which gives you a warm fuzzy feeling like doing good for the planet.

Good to see....

While traveling in Virginia  I saw one of these license plates, apparently there five other states Arizona, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas are also offering this design as well.

I hope other states follow suite, I would buy one if available to me.

A better idea...continued

I could tell from yesterdays post this is a sore subject with most, and I understand but my thoughts are this idea of Eric Holders has no chance of being implemented anytime in the near future and maybe not ever.

 Just take liberal NY (now I know not all New Yorkers are liberal but they do elect some of the most liberal politicians so apparently they are in the majority) anyway point being their Governor Andrew Cuomo signed a bill to require residents to register their 'assault' weapons and by many accounts about 90% of the gun owners have said they refuse and will not, even holding many demonstrations to burn their registration forms. All this over just a form to register guns, how do you think this would go over requiring folks to actually wear an ID bracelet ? I can't imagine. 

Now mind you this uprising is from a state which already has some of the worst, most restrictive gun laws so it's not like this caught them off guard.
All this goes to prove Eric Holder is delusional or smoking some really bad stuff (or both)
Actually I wish so much he would really try this, I would love to watch the flack, it would be really entertaining to watch federal agents trying to enforce ID bracelets in Texas for example. Maybe it would make a really good reality TV show kind of like Moonshiners or Swamp People. TV crews could follow around ATF agents as they comb the back woods of the deep south searching for 'lawless' assault weapon owners and forcing to wear an ID tags, now THAT would be worth watching on Pay Per View.

A better idea

In the news I see Eric Holder has kicked out the idea that gun owners have a electronic bracelet which he says will make us safer and allow only the owner to fire the gun.
Apart from showing his total ignorance and the fact you will stand a better chance of shoving a snowball up a wild cat's butt with a hot poker than making this fly the real reason I am sure is to identify the gun owners to everyone including police. I have a better idea which will serve the same purpose to them, just open carry, this will clearly allow everyone to see who the gun owners are.
I don't want to hide anything.

Finally....

Came back from the mountains a few days ago, no rest for the weary though but it was good to get away. It was a refreshing break from the rat race, I knew I was in the country when I stopped at the local Huddle House for breakfast and saw a deer head hanging in the bathroom.
While waiting for my meal I read this headline in the local paper, "County to close on shotgun park this week" reading further I discover the county is buying land for a shooting range for the local High School to use. Now that is the way to operate a school. Washington DC take note.

Getting Away.

We are out of town for a few days, enjoying the mountains.
On another note, it never ceases to amaze me sometimes the way the media reports certain stories like no one would ever guess,  case in point, early this morning the news station reported about a motorcyclist who had a collision with a  dump truck,  the motorcyclist was killed and then they went on to say the dump truck driver was unharmed........OK I would never have guessed that.

You Think ?

Been real busy lately, it seems like projects come out of the wood work at times, of course

the big news is the missing Malaysia  airline. It is painfully obvious that there was some definite ill intentions involved in the disappearance, I do not think the intent was to crash the plane (even though it may have) I kind of hope it did crash because I hate to think what it may be used for if repainted and loaded with nuclear bombs or something like nerve gas. The focus is now on the pilots and the Malaysian government is handing out bad information every day.
Oh by the way, did you know the dominant religion in Malaysia is Islam, anyone see a problem here ?  
I did hear that since Russia invaded  the Ukraine 0bama told Vladimir Putin he was a bad boy and his travel was restricted so maybe the Malaysian airline was sold to Putin, you know kinda like his own version of Air Force One..... hey my theory is as good as anyone's. 
I think I need to go aggravate Stephen for a while.

Ultimate Survival Ammo?

My press set up to load 44 Special.

I stumbled across something the other day which surprised me. I like to shoot a lot and have done so even more in the past because of this I have saved a lot of spent brass over the years, I also like to shoot large caliber and therefore reload my own ammo to keep from going broke.
One of my favorite calibers is 45 ACP and I have been reloading from my brass stash for years. Recently I was at a public shooting range and policed up a bunch of fresh brass some of which was new Federal 45 ACP.  

 45 ACP, Top Small Primers, Bottom Large Primers.

While reloading 45 other day I realized some of the new brass had a small primer pocket (shown here at top of photo) At first I was put out, I mean 45 ACP has always had large primers (bottom of photo) and it almost seemed sac-religious to utilize the same primer as a 9mm. I did some research and come to find out more than one manufacturer (besides Federal) has gone this route and apparently police departments are buying this stuff up as well. Most re-loaders I read about were scraping the new stuff out to get rid of it therefore  avoiding confusion during reloading, others said they would reload it and use it at ranges or locations where it was not convenient to save brass.
I pondered all this and decided it makes it a unique survival ammo. I don't know of another caliber which you have the flexibility to use either small or large primers depending on what you have available.
In fact in a real crunch if you had a stash of both these types you could physically load for your 45 ACP with any large or small pistol primer or any large or small rifle primer. I believe rifle primers are a little harder to fire than pistol primers but nevertheless it could be done in a pinch.
What some see as a inconvenience I see as a benefit......just my opinion.   

Field Trip

Heading out this weekend for a much needed break with a few friends including Stephen and Senior. We plan to eat some big steaks, build a big fire, tell some big lies, shoot some big guns, dream some big dreams and leave a really big carbon footprint. Hope your weekend is as productive.

And further more........

Thousands gather to protest 'Global Warming'

Life is tough and then you die.

I am sorry I seemed to have dropped out lately, heavy stuff going down.  I need a little break.

Going Postal

The United States Post Office is getting geared up for a big ammo purchase in the near future.
Now on the surface this may seem like another government agency stocking up on ammo for some dubious reasons but maybe this is different.
The mailman has to deliver in the worst neighborhoods and suffer attacks from dogs, thugs, democrats who did not get their government checks, and little old ladies upset because the price of stamps went up or the mail truck ran over their dog so I can see where the postal employees might want to be armed.
I mean how would like to deliver mail in the slums of NY, Washington, Detroit, Chicago, LA. anytime let alone during civil unrest.
In the old west the stage coaches delivered mail and they were armed so I guess if you wait long enough things come around again.

Of course it might give a little more twist to the phrase "Going Postal"

Why are men so callous ?

I guess after the last post I should redeem myself a little, I mentioned that I did not like the show 'The Bachelor' because I thought it was cruel to the women involved.

This got me to thinking, what if they changed the script a little, how about after the woman is rejected they give her a gun, she could chase him around the set while firing off a few rounds, maybe wounding him and then cornering him and giving him the option to change his mind......now that would make for a good show.
How is that for callous ?

Why are women so callous ?

The other night I was within earshot of the TV where my wife was watching a show called  'The Bachelor'  
Now I have never had a desire to watch the show and I wondered why that was and then it occurred to me, it's because I am such a kind thoughtful person. I do not get pleasure or do not conciser it 'entertainment' to watch a bunch of  ladies get their hearts warmed up and then ripped out when they are rejected.  It is like taking a few puppies from the pound, taking them home and playing with them, giving them the chance to have a good home then sending all but one back because only one was worthy to be adopted.
I am sure those watch the show would not like it if it was their daughter getting her heart dashed and crying for the whole world to see while everyone thought it was entertainment, I think of it as the ultimate trash TV.  I don't know why I even care about stuff like this......sorry I brought it up, I am sure I am in the minority.

Just Saying

Survival Gun Picture History

Survival guns is not just about those we may use to survive but also those which do survive. Revolvers are old school, they have been around in their current form well over 100 years and there is a reason for that, they work.
Now I know other guns work as well but over all the revolver is the ultimate user-friendly weapon. There is no safety, they don't misfeed or jamb and in the case of a misfire you simply keep pulling the trigger (double action) till it does fire and the biggest drawback is the ammo capacity which in my opinion is not as critical as some would have you believe.
Now all this has been stated before but after writing the piece on the Victory Revolver I did a little research and came up with some interesting history and information which I will share. I hope you find it as interesting as I did.




During WW2 thousands of  Victory Revolvers were sent to Commonwealth countries in a Lend-Lease program, here is a picture of some of them being unwrapped and inventoried in England during the war.

Here is an American General pinning an award on a Australian soldier with a Victory Revolver holstered on his side. It is sporting after market pearl handles.

This is an Australian soldier guarding a Korean prisoner with one of these S&W revolvers.












This is an interesting picture, an Australian combat engineer assisting American forces in Vietnam with tunnel clearing operations. He is armed with a Smith & Wesson fitted with a suppressor. Now I understand this is an exercise in futility but my guess is if you could just harness a portion of the blast it could save you hearing in a tunnel. It does appear he is wearing ear plugs as well. Could this also be one of the first tricked out handguns with flashlight attached.





Here is an American 'Tunnel Rat' in Vietnam also armed with one of these revolvers.

Here is two pilots in Vietnam. The one on the right is carrying a Victory Revolver in a shoulder holster while the one on the left is carrying either a newer model 10 (Military and Police) or a Victory fitted with newer grips. The model 10 and the Victory are basically the same weapon with the model 10 being only a little better polished.

This VF-11 pilot is armed with a Victory revolver. the butt is visible in the lower right of the picture with a lanyard attached it also appears to be sporting stag handled grips.

WW2 pilots going over mission plans. The pilot right of center with Victory Revolver.

This is an interesting picture from the TV series 'Black Sheep Squadron'
The handguns on the right and left are 1911's while the center is a pearl handled Victory revolver.

George Bush carried a Victory Revolver on his combat missions during WW2 (left) and had it with him when he was shot down in the Pacific during the war, you can see the rescue sub right of photo.

After the ocean rescue he gave the revolver to another officer to safe-keep and lost track of it till it was returned by the officers family upon his death in 1983 Bush is shown here inspecting it before donating it to the Constitutional Museum in Philadelphia.

The gun is show below. It is Serial # V361858  and is in remarkable condition especially considering it survived a ocean rescue. The serial number dates it as mid 1943 manufacture.

George Bush Victory Revolver, Serial # V361858

Old Guns, Smith & Wesson Victory.

Yesterday I did a post on my old lantern and the question was asked about the story behind the old stag handled revolver in the picture so here is some history and of course a little rant.

The revolver in the picture is a K frame Smith & Wesson (pre model 10) made during WWII
During the war most arms manufacturing was busy in the war effort and S&W was no different. These revolvers were 'no frills' handguns and originally were produced with smooth grips like the ones shown in the lower right of the picture.
These guns were sold to the Navy and Army and used mainly for security on military posts, ports and military manufacturing plants, they were also used by air crews and pilots even up through Vietnam.
The picture here shows a WWII air crew all carrying the Victory Revolver.  Also many thousands were made and 'leased' or loaned to the British, Canadian and Australian governments. The ones made for U.S. use were chambered for 38 special while most if not all for Commonwealth countries were chambered for 38 S&W which is basically a short version of the 38 special.
These revolvers were all called Victory Revolvers and are easy to spot due to their "V" prefix in the serial number. Many times you will find them missing the lanyard ring as surplus guns were reworked to look 'civilian' and the hole may even be plugged to hide the original mounting point on the butt of the revolver.

At one point these guns were cheep and plentiful and there are still plenty available however they are going up in value. If you do find one marked U.S. Navy or United States Property as the two examples shown here they are worth a lot more but be warned because they command a premium price they are faked quite often and I don't know if I would be able to spot a counterfeit marking.
 I have a couple of these revolvers one was made in 38 special and is in excellent condition.

The one shown in the post yesterday was first chambered in 38 S&W (The CTG was short for Cartridge) and more than likely was 'leased' to England or Canada and like most returned to the US after the war where the government sold them to the civilian market.

Many of these guns (like mine here) were then re-chambered for 38 special and re-marked as such. The markings are faint but can be made out in the pictures at right.
The 38 S&W has a bore of 0.361 while the bore of the 38 special is 0.358 (or .357 thus the origin of the 357 mag) so it is slightly larger however this particular gun is very accurate especially with lead bullets, the action is smooth and overall an excellent shooter.

Side note, my experience has been that any Smith & Wesson 38 of this era (and prior) is that it is more accurate with lead bullets because that was what it was designed to fire, even police used lead bullets mostly up through the 1950's and in fact this revolver is the father of the Model 10 which was a police standard gun (along with Colt) till the early 1980's

  Because this gun has been re-chambered it is not original and is at the lower end of the price range for these revolvers ($200-$300 range) I did not feel the need to find period correct grips and just left the stag grips like I found it at a gun show a few years back.


Now for a little 'Duke Rant'..... Those of you who are astute will notice in the first picture as well as the last couple of pictures the firearm is loaded. You can either see the cartridge heads or the bullets in the chamber. The reason I mention this (beside the fact it makes liberals lose bodily functions)  is because it kind of gripes me so many times when watching a gun video someone has made, they go out of their way to show it is unloaded and safety checked like they think it will go off in the camera and kill someone through the computer. Now I am all for safety especially when doing a function check or cleaning but give me a break, taking pictures will not cause an accidental discharge.  An unloaded gun is nothing but a paper weight and anyone who can't talk about their gun or do a video or take pictures without the need to impress upon me that it is unloaded may I suggest you need to either find another hobby or learn better control but that is just me, you are responsible for your own actions.
 Remember, I always treat a gun as if it is loaded because it is.

Old Stuff

I admit I like old stuff, I like old cars, trucks and motorcycles , I like old guns and knives, I like old cast iron and old coffee pots. I even like old people (well most anyway....come to think of it....well never mind I will refrain from making derogatory comments about my good friend Stephen)
Now I am sidetracked......... Oh I remember, as I was saying I like old stuff, preferably American made old stuff.
A couple of Sundays ago I went for a afternoon drive with my wife and ended up in St Augustine, and for someone who likes old stuff the oldest city is pretty neat.
On the way back we were traveling along the Kings Highway (US-1  for you people born after the early 1800's) and passed an antique mall I have visited before, anyway something made me do a U-turn and go back. It was only a few minuets before closing so I made a quick walk through (by the way something quite impossible for my wife to do nevertheless I tried)
I came across an old US made Dietz, Little Wizard Lantern which I instinctively picked up to inspect, it seems most I see nowadays are severely neglected and the few you find which are worth having are expensive. The price was marked as $18 which is usually only reserved for the ones in the worst shape but this one seemed different, it had fuel in it and appeared only very dirty so I quickly decided it was worth having. Usually antique malls will give a small discount if you ask however after we had made them late for closing and seeing as the price was below that of a Walmart, Chinese made lantern I really didn't have heart to even ask so I paid the sticker price and left....after I coaxed my wife out the door with a promise of a stop for coffee.
Upon arriving home I lit the lantern and it worked perfectly just as it was found in the store however due to it being extremely dirty and full of soot I carefully cleaned it and discovered the original paint was still in good shape as you can see from the picture above. It goes to show bargains are still to be had if you keep a look out and old lanterns like this are worth having for a number of reasons including survival situations or times of power outages plus they are cool just to look at as well.

 Why do I like old stuff ? ...... I don't exactly know because it makes me sad. It reminds me simpler times and how things change, sometimes not always for the better I might add. I am very nostalgic and the last few mornings I find myself sitting on the front porch, in the dark with my old lantern lit beside me, it is cold and the little flame it seems gives off just a little warmth to my soul and as I sit and drink my first cup of coffee for just a little while I imagine being back in time. I watch the headlights of the cars passing by presumably of people on their way to work most of whom don't have a clue as to what they have lost.

Hot coffee weather.

It's another cold morning in the Florida Tundra but I am enjoying the cold snap, it will kill off the bugs in the garden.
A few days ago I picked a wheelbarrow full of oranges from my tree and squeezed four and a half gallons of fresh juice. My grapefruit did poorly last year  but the oranges were a bumper crop.  
Think I might go get a glass of vitamin C now.