Getting Ready....

As you may know I am spending my vacation this year at the evil Blackwater unicorns and rainbows USA Training center. I need at least 1200 rounds of .45 ACP for my stay. Brigid has an excellent primer on reloading. (Groan, no pun intended) I chose to go large and got a progressive press. I have been reloading for about a year. Looks like this tonight (click on pics to enbiggen):

Loading .45 ACP. B. notes that the Blue Press catalog looks like a Frederick's of Hollywood calender. The calender above the press is for research only! My photographer friend over at The Sweeter Image is interested in doing a theme calendar (really).

Close up of what is going on:

A progressive press is on the surface pretty simple. Stick a piece of brass in one station, put a bullet in another and pull the handle. In reality, it does require attention to detail. You also need to be a bit mechanically inclined. I check the powder load and case gauge every 10th round.

I chose a Hornady press over the Dillon. I trust Hornady cartridges. If they make live ammunition, I would assume the reloading press would reflect their experience. Cheaper too.

Several comments on B.s post were of the "if you can follow a recipe out of a book you can reload". I disagree. I am the consummate book reader and that will not replace practical experience in my opinion. Good friends showed me how they reload. It was very valuable!     

   

Perhaps it is time

If the only thing you can say about a relationship with another human is that you lament the loss of this creature, then truly the relationship was doomed. 

Her name was Wasabi. A noble creature and we "clicked". She stayed with me during the awkward time when things were breaking up, yet she supposedly belonged to the other person. I still miss her.  I remember the four legs sticking out from under the futon. She injured herself on a hind leg with a rock and although cut deeply she let me attend to the wound. She would patrol the perimeter of the house and report back "all clear" with a sigh as she layed back down late at night.

Perhaps it is time to find another four legged companion?

Oxymoron

So I ran out of paper sheet protectors. I love them. I put house documentation, firearm instructions, entertainment product info and just about anything else deemed important around one. I then stick that into a loose leaf binder. I noticed I ran out and absently picked some up at the Bookstore at the Campus I teach at. I got home and noticed this:

You are kidding right?!?!? BIODEGRADABLE sheet protectors? Like I am going to put a Colt Historian letter like this that costs 100 bucks in one of these?

Sigh.....

Oh, To my new friends in Texas!

A little Bluegrass for you.

Bloggerness....

First the QOTD-

In life's small things be resolute and great
To keep they muscle trained: know'st thou when Fate
Thy measure takes, or when she'll say to thee,
"I find thee worthy; do this deed for me?"

James Russel Lowell- "Epigram"

I do not possess the snark of Tam, nor the historical knowledge she possesses about old firearms. I do not have command of the written word, photography, or general vast Bloggerness knowledge of Brigid . I do not make posts that make people think on the depth of North, nor do I possess his skills with a camera. I do not have the experiences of Old NFO.  I do not have the general posting acumen of Borepatch, GFA, and others I probably missed in this post.  I do not posses the skills of a talented artist like Just an Artist.

I am humbled that anyone wanders by here to see what is going on in my simple life. For those that do, Thanks!

I look forward to meeting all that I can in person!

A new friend on the Blogroll and a Retro Repost!

Guffaw in AZ is new to the Blogging scene, but has an innate skill for it. Good information, a dose of humor, and some pleasing graphics! He recently posted about the "mouse guns". 

Here is a repost on the Colt .25!

The Colt Model 1908 Vest Pocket .25 semi-auto was designed by John Moses Browning and was manufactured from 1908 to 1948. Mr. Browning also developed the cartridge the .25ACP. A magazine disconnect safety was added in 1916. Around 420,000 were made.

The Colt Junior Pocket Model was introduced in 1958 and made by Astra in Spain for Colt chambered in .25ACP. A .22 version was introduced one year later. The Gun Control Act of 1968 made the import of this handgun  illegal, so production shifted to the USA and was was reintroduced in 1970 and produced until 1972.

 

Bottom a Model 1908 produced around 1920, above a Pocket Model in the last year of production in the US. They are both fun to shoot and very reliable. Although considered too weak a cartridge now for self defense, these are wonderful handguns!

I hope everyone has a great week!

Product reviews

You may have seen these before, but.....

I was looking around today for a Layer 3 switch. A Layer 3 switch is a marketing term for a multiport router in my opinion, but I need one. Saw one on Amazon and the review was hilarious! Here is an excerpt:

"I used to hate network uptime. When the LAN was up for more than a few days at a time, I would get angry and punchy.

That has all changed, friends.

Now that I have the Netgear GSM7324, I don't have to worry about the network being up for too long; it automatically kills the LAN on it's own.

The best part is, it is totally unpredictable, so each time my users yell "Hey, I can't get to wiki" or "Is there something wrong with the Internet?", it's like a special surprise for everybody.

I mean really, do you really _need_ access to your gateway while trying to commit CVS at the end of the day? And who wants to be able to read email while at work? It's much better to pay a bunch of software engineers and marketing consultants to sit idle while the IT guy is power cycling all the switches on the network trying to clear up whatever happy fun issue is taking down LAGs and VLANs one by one.

Sure, I could have bought a Cisco, but that drab bluegreygreen color totally clashes with my server room. Also, there is my hatred of a stable network to consider."  Link.

Then my old standby the Denon A/V cable ($9000.00 cable):

"Transmission of music data at rates faster than the speed of light seemed convenient, until I realized I was hearing the music before I actually wanted to play it. Apparently Denon forgot how accustomed most of us are to unidirectional time and the general laws of physics. I tried to get used to this effect but hearing songs play before I even realized I was in the mood for them just really screwed up my preconceptions of choice and free will. I'm still having a major existential hangover. " Link.

Tuscan Whole Milk: " With Tuscan, you feel the love of every dairyperson involved -- from the somewhat sad and deranged farmhand shovelling steaming cowpies to the bored union milk maiden dreaming of leaving this soul crushing life behind for a job waiting tables for obnoxious American tourists in Siena. But not too fast -- sip gently, slowly, or one is in danger of not only missing the subtleties of the milk's texture and its terroir, but -- if chilled too long -- also of giving oneself a blinding ice cream headache." Link.