Target Practice

I put the eccentric inserts into the Burris rings to walk the scope into the bullseye. I'm closing in on it. The OnTarget software says that this is a 1.005" group, centered 0.538" to the right and 2.220" low. That's a big improvement over 5.5" right and 2.9" low. Ammo as before was the same lot of Remington Premier Accutip 55-gr, MV=3240, BC=0.242.

Range Report

After a 2-hour wait I was assigned to lane 9 and set my target out at 25 yards. I had a box of Federal XM193F, 5.56mm M193 Ball, 55-gr. boat-tail cartridges. I aimed at the target center and my first two shots landed 2 inches down and 2 inches to the right. That's disappointing, because it would be 8 inches at 100 yards, but at least I have some real-world results to ponder.

So rather than adjust the turrets I decided to "shoot a box": I turned the windage turret 64 clicks to the right and fired two more shots, then turned the elevation turret 64 clicks up and fired two more, then 64 clicks left windage and two more, then 64 clicks left and two more shots, then finally 64 clicks down and two more shots. I was shooting from a bag rest each time. The shots seemed to track the turrets pretty well. These turrets are 1/8" per click.

The second target was at 50 yards:

This seemed to be more like 3.5 inches to the right, or 7 inches at 100 yards.

I'm not really so concerned about the elevation because I'm so close to the target that the bullet is still rising to meet the line of sight; the scope is mounted about 2" above the bore.

The three shots above the bull were just to finish off the cartridge box.

The wind was really vicious today, so my plans to visit Clark Bros. in Warrenton had to be postponed. They have a rifle range with 25, 50 and 100-yard targets.

My goal is to use the adjustable rings to get the rifle on target at all ranges, for windage anyway, without adjusting the turrets.

I also fired eight magazines from the Ruger 22/45 with the red dot sight, and half a box from the Nagant "7-shooter". The Nagant has a formidable double-action trigger pull; I used single action. Nice shooter! Very quiet and very little recoil. Only 98-gr bullets.

The Smith & Wesson M&P 9mm compact sent some lead downrange, too, to test four new magazines (CTD has 'em in stock if you act fast).

Check out the unfired Nagant cartridge (far right) and the spent case next to it.

And I just noticed this: look at the unusual dimple in the primer. What do you make of that? 

And it wasn't just the Blaser, either. This one is Winchester White Box. It shows a dimple (at the 10 o'clock position) and a firing-pin "comma" (at 5 o'clock).

Red Dot Sight

The Ruger 22/45 came with a Picatinny scope base, so today I torqued it down to 10 in-lbs (aluminum receiver).

And installed this red dot scope. Burris Signature Zee rings (30mm/Medium) torqued down to 20 in-lbs (because they're steel).

I have no idea how to "level" a sight that has no crosshairs, so I just eye-balled it.

It should make for some fun plinking.

Oh, NOW What?

I pulled out the AR-15 and hooked up the boresighter and got this. Pretty good.

But two weeks ago it looked like this. What the hell is going on?

I guess it's off to the range.

Remington 700 Action Trueing Videos

Don't try this at home, kids!

This 13-part video shows a gunsmith (I think his name is Suarez) trueing up a Remington 700 action. I found it absolutely fascinating.

Ruger 22/45 Mod

This modification will remove the magazine safety from my Ruger 22/45, and make the magazines drop free of the mag well when the release button is pressed. In the first picture is the mainspring housing at top and then (L-R) are the hammer and strut, the stock bushing, and the aftermarket bushing.

The aftermarket bushing has two raised areas on it where the magazine safety follower and its spring used to ride on the factory bushing. Those parts aren't needed and they've been discarded.

Here is the new bushing in place. It is deliberately a tight fit in the hammer assembly, and it needs to be tapped into place with a plastic-faced hammer.

The hammer assembly has been put back in place in the gun and the hammer pin has been fully extended - without, I might add, disturbing the safety or the sear - I'm proud of that.

 

Add a couple of Hogue cocobolo grips and it looks just like the other "45s".

Warp Drive

Who would have thought that the Virginia Transportation Dept, of all people, would have a sense of humor?

Orbital Sciences is on that road.

1967: Civil Defense Club

I'm second from the right. I was more or less drafted into this august body of men due to my recently having acquired a General Class amateur radio license. This allowed me to operate all of their radios. There was only one other ham in this picture. Can you spot him?

No, not the guy with the pocket protector; good guess though. It's the guy in the lower left. As I recall his father and mother were chauffeur and housekeeper to some rich family. This was in Greenwich, Connecticut. I was fifteen, nearly sixteen.

Short Ends

Tossed into a rural field, several miles of fiber optic cable.

Now THAT's A Typewriter!

And it's real!

Boing-boing.

The Fifth Amendment

A judge has ordered a Peyton, Colorado woman to furnish the password to decrypt the files on her laptop, the better to prosecute her for what's in them.

The story is in Cnet.

The suspect should negotiate for complete immunity from prosecution for any offense disclosed by decrypting the laptop. The decrypted contents of the laptop could then be used as evidence against others, but not against her (the original suspect).

If prosecutors offer her such a deal, and she refuses, then she can be charged with contempt of court and given a lengthy prison sentence.

But as it stands now, prosecutors want to have their cake and eat it, too: they want the contents of the laptop AND they want to use it as evidence against the suspect.

They can’t have both.

The fifth amendment allows a defendant to just go limp and dare the prosecutor to convict him (her).

Really, people! Have an auto-destruct password ready. C’mon! A fake password that would erase the password file and wipe it out permanently, rendering the laptop inert. A brick.

These defendants are hardly sympathetic; the current one is charged with mortgage fraud. In 2009 and 2010 there were two cases involving child pornography.

But the next victim could be Claire Wolfe, or David Codrea.

As H. L. Mencken said, "The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one's time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all."

Daphne Oram

Interesting lady.

From Boing-Boing.

On The Border

Thanks to reader Bob, we have one more Wullenweber. This one on the Virginia/North Carolina border (the horizontal gray line is the border.)

This one looks like it's been converted into a secret squirrel site.

Or a Walmart.

Wullenweber Antennas

Sobe, Japan

These are very large arrays for high-frequency reception and direction-finding, mostly by governments. Here is the Wikipedia article.

All of the installations were originally super-secret, but most have been dismantled and only a few are left, all of them inactive.

In addition to RAF Credenhill in the previous post, these Wullenweber sites remain:

Chicksands, UK

Elmendorf AFB, Alaska

Misawa, Japan

Imperial Beach, California

This one has an interesting history. Built in Karamursel, Turkey, it was dismantled by the Turkish government in 1977 in retaliation for a U.S. arms embargo. That was 34 years ago and it's still easy to spot.

They're anachronisms now, but as this 1955 snapshot shows, security at Misawa was serious.

What Color Is The Boathouse At Hereford?

There seem to be many different possible answers to that time-honored question.

But first, what is this Big Round Thing?

And what is this Little Round Thing?

They've got their own orchard, we know that.

And some sort of Big Square Thingy. Avec flagpole.

Nice antenna.

What say you, Bobbi? Appears to me to be a broadband ten-element high-frequency Yagi. I'd love to own one.


There's a double fence around the whole place, with camera towers every hundred meters or so.

And a bit farther down the road we see the antenna in the distance. More like twelve to fifteen elements, I'd say. Like the one at the Pentagon. Maybe they talk to each other: "dit-dit-dit-dit-dit..."

They've got lots of stuff, but I don't see a boathouse. Musta been one of those trick questions.

Hey, what's that weird tower on the horizon? How'd I miss that?

OK, there it is. Maybe that's the mysterious boathouse.

"'ello, 'ello, 'ello! What's all this, then? That's as far as you go, Yank. Nothing to see 'ere. Just turn your fancy camera car around and get yer arse back to Cupertino."

"You think we're barmy? Get lost!"

"Um, Constable, is there a boathouse around here?"
"Bloody git!"

See for yourself here.

Great License Plate!

Spotted parked outside the telephone company.

And here's one of Steve Wozniak's original Blue Boxes, on display at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA.

24 Terabits A Second

Three submarine fiber cables come ashore in Hermosa Beach, CA...

And make their way to this ratty-looking telephone pole. Notice the red spray-paint on the pavement: "Before you dig, call Miss Utility."

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These Are Not The Droids...

Steampunk R2-D2.

From Neatorama.

The Velvet Geek

The coolest black velvet paintings you will ever see.

Lebowski Fest

Hilarious bunch of fans, fanatics and lookalikes.