summer patriot, winter soldier

the sam t. mactavish homemade screen door and bullet company ....

i like shooting 168 grain sierra boat tail hollow points in my .308 winchester bolt action rifle.  unfortunately, the shelves at the local gun store are just bare.  none to be had.

almost.  

sitting all by their lonesome on the bottom shelf were a couple boxes of speer "target match" bullets, in .308 caliber, 168 grain bthp.  well, they are not sierra's.   but, they are not exactly bullets from the sam t. mactavish homemade screen door and bullet company, either.  i've used speers of many "makes and models" over the years, chief among the favorites being the 175 grain grand slam in 7mm caliber:  it is a damned fine bullet, and i've killed a couple elk with it, the bullet performing very well.   and, i've not ruled out the use of the 130 grain hot core in "jj's brit," though i am partial to the 130 grain sierra bthp in 7mm caliber for that use.

so, while i was not able to get the sierra's i wanted, having the speer's is not exactly a "make do" situation, and i expect that they will shoot well.

we'll see.   i'll keep you posted as to how they shoot, as i load some 168's for long range duty.

in these times, you must learn to make do.  quite simple, really.

john jay @ 03.29.2013

go ducks!!!!!

you wanna "add" a ballistic drop calculator to your scope? .... on the cheap? ....

it's simple, really.   just learn how to count.

i noticed something the other day while putting a "bds" prepared by the fellows at leupold on a leupold scope.  it was purely by accident.

the instructions for the installation said to sight the rifle in, dead nuts on, for the "100 yard" value which was the lowest setting on the bds.  in this case, the lowest value on the bds was 3, or 300 yards.  my rifle was sighted in, more or less dead nuts on for 200 yards, and i just didn't feel like going out to the range and burning more ammunition simply to sight it in at 300 yards.

so, i counted.  i counted the number of hash marks on the bds between "3" and "4," and then between "4" and "5."   they were the same.  including the hash marks to get to "3.5" and "4.5".   so, i simply counted back down the bds several fewer hash marks, (figuring the bullet "drop" between 200 and 300 yards to be just a bit less than between 400 and 500, for instance), towards where the "2" would be, if there were a "2."

and, i put the bds on the scope at that hash mark, and figured the scope was now roughly sighted in at 200 yards.  (yes, i have recorded that number.  it is "greater" because normally it would be used at extended range, and it will be.   at it "correct" value.)    then, i simply turned the dial up to "3," and figured it as then being sighted in at 300 yards, more or less.

to test that theory, i then went out to the range, and fired 4 shots at the 300 yard gong, a 14"x18" steel plate, and just pasted it.  dead nuts on.   when i get some more time, and some more ammunition, i will simply verify that on paper, and make any necessary corrections, which will be nominal.

now, to the subject of how you can make your scope turret into a bds turret.   (i am assuming that you, being a progressive fellow, will have a 1/4" click turret, as is the rage.  most bds's made by leupold, with which i am familiar, have that as a "click" value.)

establish the velocity and ballistic coefficient of the load you want to shoot in your rifle, or are shooting.  find someone with a bds for a similar round, with a similar ballistic coefficient.   count the number of little hash marks between "2" and "3," then between "3" and "4," and then between "4" and "5", and so on, until you reach the highest value on the bds.

you may assume that the lowest number is capable of being dialed in, on the bds system.

then, have your rifled zeroed at 200 yards.

then, simply count up the number of the hash mark values between "2" and "3" found on the bds, and dial that onto your scope, and wherever it lands, you may record that value on your scope at being a "300 yard" value.  in other words, it should be at least metaphorically speaking, a "dead nuts on" value for your scope at 300 yards.   and, so on and so forth, to any reasonable distance (capable of being dialed into by your scope.)

how can this be?

well, it's pretty simple when you think about it.

a 1/4" click is worth 1/4" at 100 yards.

a 1/4" click is worth 1" at 400 yards.

a 1/4" click is worth 1.5" at 600 yards.   thus, if you have your scope set at a 600 yard value on a scope with a bds dial, if you want to move to a 700 yard setting, you have to understand that you are compensating for many inches of trajectory value between 6 and 700 yards.  (i don't have that figured out anywhere, but, i have marked for one rifle the difference in "drop" between 5 and 600 yards, with a "zero" value set at 300 yards for that cartridge/bullet combination.  the difference is over 30 inches of additional drop.  you figure it out, how many clicks that is from the 500 yard value, "up.")   but, the reason that you can do so easily, is that at the 600 yard value, each click is an additional 1.5" of "up."  ten clicks is 15", and fifteen clicks is 22.5" of "up" value.

on a scope equipped with a bds, this is all done w/ 1/4" clicks value, at 100 yards.

if your scope has 1/4" clicks value at 100 yards, you can simply follow the procedure outlined above, and you will in effect, be able to do the same thing with your scope as the fellow with the trick technology.  hey, a 1/4" click is a 1/4" click, no matter where you find it.

would i do this?   no, because in the real world, i could never keep track of it.  for instance, say you want to engage a target at 375 yards, and your ordinary scope is cranked up to a 550 yard target engagement.  well, you've got some figuring to do, and some tedious counting, and perhaps some difficult conditions to do that turret adjustment in.

i, on the other hand, simply reach up, and dial the bds down from "5.5" to "3.5", do a slight amount of fudging, and i am set to go in not too many seconds, if that.  it's just that easy.  and, that is why leupold is in the bds turret business, and i am never gonna get rich holding seminars teaching people how to use my "system."

but, if you are cheap, and terribly anal, and if you will write all the values involved on a piece of water proof paper taped to your rifle stock, you are entirely free to do as i have outlined.   just keep in mind, that it is a lot better solution simply to buy a quality scope with a bds feature on it, and then just relax in the lap of indulgence and luxury.

and, forget about memorizing all the "ups" and "downs" you will have to keep track of.

john jay @ 03.28.2013 

p.s.  if you are extremely determined, (and, just more than a bit tedious), you may do the same thing after consultation with a bunch of ballistics tables.  i don't think i would bother, were i you, ... , but, i am not, now, am i?

 

 

why do we not construe dept. of homeland security actions as declarations of war against the american public?

an interesting post at freedom outpost.  http://freedomoutpost.com/2013/03/army-captain-demands-dhs-give-up-their-weapons-of-war/ .  retired u.s. army captain terry m. hestilow has written his u.s. senator, senator john cornyn, texas, stating that he believes the department of homeland security is preparing for war against, well, us.  he advances in his letter the proposition that the dept. of homeland security is without legal or constitutional authority to have acquired the war powers it has.

update, 03.26.2013.  at "knuckledraggin' my life away."  a fun blog, with good stuff, btw.  http://ogdaa.blogspot.com/2013/03/dhs-vehicles-on-move.html .  (if the link is "live," just copy and put in the command line, and click, and you are there.  sometimes this machine "brings 'em back home alive," and sometimes it don't.)  end update.

it's a pretty good argument.

my question is precisely this.  why is the department of homeland security, and the obama administration, not to be considered in its preparations for war against us as having in actual fact declared war against us.

if i see some idiot in a d.h.s. uniform driving a mine resistant armored personnel carrier (mrap) down the streets in milton freewater, and he is armed, i believe that i am permitted to construe him as perpetrating an act of war against me, and my fellows.

i don't think i would have any choice but to respond accordingly.  i believe that i am constrained to do so.

john jay @ 03.25.2013

 

"jj's brit" is birthed as an ar-15 .... feeding the hungry maws of a semi-auto rifle ....

update, 03.30.2013.   at this point i consider the magazine from p.r.i. as "reliable," in that it feed regularly and has not been the source of jams as i have continued to break it in.   that's the good news.  the bad news is that i have had two more of them on "back order," and expect never to see another one, any time soon.

i do not consider the nodak spud as reliable, and i am having doubts that it ever will be.  i believe i've solved the problems at top of the magazine/feed lips, as outlined in the post below, but i have not been able to solve the issue of magazine follower "tilt."  that means that every now and again a cartridge from the more or less middle of the stack presents at the top of the stack, "nose down."  so, that when the bolt comes forward to strip the cartridge from the magazine, all that happens is that the cartridge nose impacts the front of the magazine.  oops.

we'll see what happens, but it is hard to get the spud to feed an entire magazine without mishap.   end update.

 

when i first conceived the "jj's brit" in an ar-15 rifle i realized that getting it to feed reliably was going to be as great a difficulty as finding a way to make the ar-15 breach accept a .473" diameter case head cartridge.

this may seem somewhat inconsequential, and not worthy of the length of this post, but when the humble magazine does not work, the firearm does not work.  period.

it is a matter of room.   and, that room is the width of the interior of the ar-15 magazine, which runs about .740" or so, from side to side of the magazine.  which dimension is quite a bit less than the .900" of an inch or so, required to allow .473" diameter case head cartridges to properly "double stack."

why is it so important that the cartridges double stack in a magazine to feed properly?   well, if they cannot double stack, they are inclined to wedge, jam, bind and tilt, ... , in other words, they will not feed in an orderly fashion one after another to the top of the magazine, where they are stripped off by the bolt and fed into the rifle's chamber.

the several pictures which follow illustrate the matter about as clearly as anything i can conceive.  first is a picture of the cartridges in a "double stack," between the jaws of a dial caliper set to just a little less than .900".  that 9/10ths of an inch.  as you can see, each cartridge makes contact with the cartridges immediately above and below it, and with each cartridge to its side.

caption:  note that in the proper double stack, each cartridge contacts the cartridge above and below it on its "side" of the magazine, and also has contact with the cartridge on the other "side" of the double stack.  force from the magazine spring/magazine follower is distributed in a more or less "straight line," that being "up."

it makes sense, if you think about it.

second is a picture of the cartridges in between the caliper jaws set at .740", the space of the interior of an ar-15 magazine.  they are staggered, but each cartridge makes contact only with the cartridges to its side, and not with either of the cartridges to its top or bottom.

caption:  within the confines of a space not wide enough for a proper "double stack," the force of the magazine follower/magazine spring is not distributed in a straight line up both sides of the stack, but, has to follow a zig zag course from one cartridge to the next.  in so doing, the forces are directed to the sides of the magazine, and this induces both bulging in the magazine walls, and  tends to drag on the sidewalls of the magazine.   

this arrangement inhibits sliding straight up, which is what you want.

this tendency must be overcome, if the magazine is to function correctly, and if it is to feed fresh cartridges into the reciprocating bolt.  (hint:  it goes back and forth, pretty quickly, and the cartridges "don't have much time" to rise and get in front of it.  that's about as clearly as i can say it.)

so?

well, it is the way that the forces are vectored.   when the bullets are placed in a magazine, they are placed atop a magazine follower, which is powered by a heavy duty spring.  it pushes up.  and, as it is compressed, with the feeding of each subsequent round into the magazine, it pushes up with even greater force.  in a properly designed "double stack" magazine, such force is vectored by each cartridge pretty much to the cartridge immediately above, in a straight line, more or less "up."  as a cartridge is removed by the bolt from the top of the magazine, the cartridges below pretty much move up as a unit.

not so with the cartridges within the confines of a magazine too narrow, as is technically, the ar-15 magazine with my little brit.

the force cannot be vectored up in a straight manner, because no cartridge makes contact with a cartridge below or above it, contacting only cartridges to its side.   and, so the force of the magazine spring is vectored to the sides of the magazines, in a line going from side to side.--

look at it this way.  the magazine follower/spring pushes against the bottom of the stack, while the feed lips holds them in place.  any two cartridges on one side of the stack touch only one cartridge on the other side of the stack, at equal angles.  as to the "other" cartridge, they can only "push it away," and since the angles are equal, they push it away in a straight line, against the magazine wall.  the entire stack is nothing more, in a geometrical sense, than a series of alternating triangles, so described, so that every cartridge in the stack pushes outward against the magazine walls.  it is kind of elegant in its own little way. --

the net effects are several.  1.)this pushes the walls of the magazine out, and with an aluminum magazine, it bulges the walls so badly that the magazine will not insert into the magazine well.  2.)in effect, it "fixes" the cartridge stack in place against the walls, because the resultant force vectors are going perpendicular to the line of travel, e.g., not "up." and, this is why even though the forces exerted by the magazine spring are significant the cartridge stack induces binding and jamming, to such an extent that the cartridges, as a group, refuse to go further into the magazine when a fellow is introduced, or the cartridges refuse to go "up," when a fellow is stripped from the top of the magazine by the reciprocating rifle bolt.  the only relief to this situation is when a cartridge is stripped from the top of the stack.

but, the situation described causes the resultant reaction to be sluggish, as the cartridges search for a resolution of the forces that tend to hold them pressed against the magazine walls.  it is why cartridges not in a classic "double stack" sometimes do not move upward quickly enough to be caught by the bolt face, which passes over them, or sometimes engage them in the middle of the case instead of on the face of the cartridge.

it's called a jam.

technically, it could be called a wedge, i suppose.   or, perhaps a bind.  i'll leave it to the engineers and physics guys to weigh/"way" what the whole mess is.  but, when pressure against the walls of the magazines won't allow the cartridges to move up in a quick & orderly succession as the bolt strips cartridges from the feed lips, .... , well, the rifle stops firing.

the rifle will not work as a semi auto, if cartridges cannot be fed from it.

well, i have a steel waffle magazine from p.r.i. that is reliably feeding from 8 to 10 rounds in succession, with no stoppages, and have just got a steel magazine from nodak spud to feed 9 rounds this afternoon.  [first draft remnant, in "real time," but i'll just leave it in here.  this is the trouble with writing things "on the go.":jjjay.]

how was this done, given the difficulties outlined above?

well, it pays to have a gun smith who knows his stuff.  my friend in montana said, "just watch," when i broached the above concerns to him.   actually, he was pretty driven to distraction by all the elaborate schemes i floated to him on how to get the rifle to feed.   he said, well we will cross that bridge when we get the thing built, and after we get the operating cycle working.

in other words, build it, "gas" it (that means regulate the gas feed, largely a function of drilling the proper size hole in the barrel to cycle the bolt carrier group:  not enough gas, and the bolt won't go back far enough to strip a fresh round, ... , too much gas, and case rims can be damaged, and the bolt cycles so violently as to damage the bolt and the upper receiver.)

he built the rifle.

he drilled the hole at .100", and the bolt wouldn't quite go back far enough.   he expanded the hole to .110", and the rifle cycled perfectly.  no battering, and the cases in a little pile about 4 feet from a standing shooter.

then he said, "watch this."  he grabbed my p.r.i. magazine, and doused it heavily with oil.   good old lubricating, penetrating and cleaning gun oil.  just drenched it.   he laughed at my expression and said, in match shooting, they always said that an ar-15 wasn't working properly unless the oil was dripping from your elbows.

he then used fingers made strong from 30 years in the gun trade to jam 12 cartridges into a magazine that i could barely get 8 to go into, and only then begrudgingly.  he raised the rifle, and got one jam.   he did it again, put more oil and things, and ran several magazines full, one after another.

"see," he said.

i saw.  and, grinned.   i have two more p.r.i. mags on back order, and should i live so long as to actually lay eyes on them, they will get the same treatment.

caption:  the two magazines to be discussed below.

the p.r.i. is in the foreground, underneath the pistol grips.  i direct your attention to the top of the magazine, where the grey/green follower is exposed, controlled by the feed lips.  note the waffle indentations on the side of the mag.

in the p.r.i., the indentations running the length of the magazine stop about 1/2" below the feed lips, giving the cartridges a chance to move against the magazine walls, and to be placed directly under the feed lips.

this is important.

the magazine with the cartridge ("jj's brit") sitting on it is a nodak spud reproduction of a vintage colt magazine for the early m-16 rifle.  notice that the indents running vertically on the magazine extend all the way to the top & feed lips of the magazine.   this was good in the instance where the magazine was filled w/ 5.56x45mm nato rounds, as it reduced friction, keeping them off the side walls.

this is bad, in the instance of getting "jj's brit" to work in the magazine, as it exacerbates the stacking issue, and keeps the rounds from resting against the sidewalls of the mag, as discussed below.

so, as to the p.r.i. magazines, they are strong enough given their waffle structure, that they will neither bulge, nor will they jam, bind, wedge or tilt is the interiors are properly slicked up and polished.  actually, the cartridges ride on the interior of the magazines on the raised surfaces made by the waffle imprints in the sides of the mags, to give them strength.  and, as the cartridges near the feed lips, they are allowed to fully engage them, because the waffle indents do not go all the way up to the top of the mag.

which brings us to the magazine from nodak spud.

you will note that on the exterior of the nodak spud the indents running bottom to top extend all the way to the feed lips at the top of the magazine.  this means, that the cartridges as they engaged the feed lips where being held some distance from the magazine wall, and were not being held very securely by the feed lips.  as a consequence of same, the cartridges were inclined to "pop" out of the top of the magazine, when the bolt was first opened, and were inclined to do the same during the operation of the rifle.

the below picture will show quite clearly my "solution" to the problem.

caption:  the magazine with the curve to it is the p.r.i., and i have had sufficient sense to leave it the hell alone.  the magazine with the straight profile and slanted bottom is the magazine from nodak spud.

look to the top of the magazine, where you can clearly see the relief cuts i have made in the waffle indents of the mags.  on the insides of the mag, this has had the effect of eliminating the interior "hump" of the indent, allowing the cartridges to move closer to the side walls, and allowing them to engage the feed lips more fully.

this gives the feed lips more control of the cartridge as it is stripped from the top of the magazine by the forward movement of the bolt/bolt carrier group, as the action cycles.

i simply took the dremel tool, put a little circular wheel on it, and cut a slit into the bottom of the indent.  and, widened it.   on the interior of the mag, i put a rotary stone on the dremel, and ground down the height of the interior ridges on the "waffle indent."  i did this so that the cartridges could more nearly come in contact with the interior walls of the mag near the feed lips, and hence be controlled properly during the feeding process, e.g., so that they would push into the chamber without popping from the mag, and jamming.

caption:  on the left, the magazine from p.r.i.  it was designed for the 6.8mm remington spc cartridge, which has a larger case diameter than the 5.56x45mm nato round.  even so, the radius of the lips are a bit small for "jj's brit," which is even larger in diameter than the 6.8mm round.  even so, the magazine lips are a pretty good fit, the radius of the cartridge matching up pretty well with the radius of the feed lips.

on the right, is the nodak spud magazine.  it was made to hold and feed the 5.56x45mm nato round, and its radius is much tighter on the interior curve than the exterior of my "jj's brit."  you can see the gap between the feed lip and the cartridge case very clearly, and much more pronounced near the exterior wall at the bottom of the feed lip.

this is bad.  the magazine lip does not control the cartridge during extraction nearly as well as the p.r.i. magazine.   even so, the magazine functions well, after all the tender ministrations described in the text.

(the more observant will have noticed the head stamp "r-p .243 winchester" on the case head.  no, those are not .243 winchester cartridges.  my little "jj's brit" cases are fabricated from .243 cases, among many other cartridge cases.  if you read earlier posts, you will come across articles on how the cases were fabricated.  a lot of damned hard work, that's how.)

and, then i drenched the magazine in oil.

this afternoon, i put 9 cartridges in the mag, and shot them in rapid succession, with nary a burp.  the bolt held open on the last round, as it is supposed to.

success.   temporarily, at least.  i don't know how this is going to hold up.  it may very well be that by doing this, i will induce and invite stress cracking at some not too distant juncture, (which i suspect.)  but, if this leads to failure of the magazine wall at the feed lips, so be it, because the mag did not want to work very much at all as originally designed.  (please remember, nodak spud made it for the .223/5.56mm, and not for "jj's brit."   it's not their "fault.")

two things must be said about this.  1.)the nodak spud magazine was designed to be a replica of an early colt ar-15/m-16 magazine, and was designed to hold and function with 5.56mm nato ammunition, with a case head nominally of .378" case rim/case head diameter, more or less.   it was not designed to handle a case of .473" in diameter.   that it functions as well as it does, is something of a miracle.  2.)treating the magazine as i have, by dremeling and filing a slot in the waffle indents will absolutely and irrevocably destroy any warranty associated with the performance of the magazine. just no doubt about it.

the preliminary conclusion, though hardly an absolutely final judgment, is that with a bit of coaxing and wearing in, you can make the "jj's brit" function in the ar-15 magazine and magazine well, without alteration, if you use very sturdy steel magazines.

aluminum is out.

plastic and composite magazines, such as the magpul, are absolutely out, because they do not have sufficient room inside the magazines even to insert the cartridges.  you can get about three "jj's brits" into a pmag 20, and it is jammed.  it simply will not accept them.   and, in defense of the magazine, it simply wasn't designed to function with any cartridge besides the 5.56x45mm nato.

in sum.

by the use of a suitable steel magazine made for the ar-15, and designed to go into the magazine well of an ar-15, you can make the "jj's brit" feed reliably into the ar-15.   again, don't forget, this is possible only by the use, in the first instance, of a barrel extension and bolt designed and provided by harrison beane at www.ar15performance.com to use cartridges not to exceed 2.260" of overall length, and fabricated with a casehead dimension of .473" in diameter, (such as in the .30-06 and .308 family of cases, and, as luck would have it, also found in the .30/280 british cartridge.)

there you have it.

john jay @ 03.24.2013

p.s.   yes, i assert trademark protection in "jj's brit," as it is a cartridge wholly of my conception and design, and as the weapons made for it were fabricated at my instance.

but, harrison beane made it possible w/ his barrel extension and bolt design.  drew458 at barking moonbat was invaluable in helping me develop the loads.  and, my gun smith friend in montana built a beautiful ar-15, and a "test mule" before that.

        www.ar15performance.com

and, for all those who contributed by giving me parts "on the cheap," and for trade.  i could not have afforded the whole mess without your largess.  you know who you are.  

 

 

reflections upon who we deal with when we deal with politicians .... the way the "zebra" she is "striped" ....

recently a portion of the conservative blogosphere is all atwitter over the declaration by a republican politician that the benghazi american diplomatic ligation, and our ambassador to libya, were involved in a gun running scheme to get arms to the syrian rebels, and that ambassador stevens was also recruiting and screening fighters to send to syria.

just as though this were news.   and, just as though it is just now being discovered.

well, neither is the case.  i was writing about this (as were many others) in october of 2012, and the lady from the washington times broke the story of the libyan ship (with photo's of same) that docked in turkey right on the syria border and delivered guns and weapons to alleppo, syria, well before i started writing about it.

you can look it up.  i am not going to cite the links, because that is not what i care about in all this.

and, i really don't give a hoot in hell about repeating the politicians name, for reasons that will become clear in just a few lines.  to hell with him.   please.

it is not that any of this has just been learned by the republicans in congress, or any other political, diplomatic or news type in the environs of washington d.c.  they've known about this since day one.  all this bullshit that we all strive to get them to admit to, they all know.

elites always know.  it goes with the territory.

no, the source of my reflection and wonderment over what goes on in the minds and souls of politicians, is that it has taken the particular republican political dipshit at immediate hand, this damned long to figure out that there might be some political hay, some political gain, to be made by informing the public that president obama and his henchmen have been running guns to arab & muslim terrorists.

it has taken the stupid sod, the twit, the brain dead as a post son of a bitch this long to figure out that the public might be interested, and that they might have an interest in being informed about this little detail.

this long to figure out, that he might make something out of telling the rest of us benighted twits, (in his estimation), what the truth of the matter is.

imagine.  a politician who thinks we might want to know the truth about an event in which an american ambassador is murdered, and two navy seals are killed.

this is who we deal with, people, when we count on politicians to tell us what is going on.

democrat.  republican.   it makes no difference.  they are all lying duplicitous assholes, and we should be shed of them.

john jay @ 03.20.2013

p.s.   yes, this is the sort of dipshit republican that had insufficient sense to make this an election issue, in the last contest involving the idiot obama.

and, imagine, if you will, a politician who did not think it his duty to inform "the great unwashed," e.g., you and i, you know, the "public," of the truth regarding the events surrounding benghazi, when he learned it.

imagine.

the american insurrection .... when will it be fought? .... planning ....

if we are going to fight the federal and state governmental apparatus on this continent over the possession of our guns, it is best we do so on terms advantageous to ourselves, and not our adversaries.

yes, we outnumber them.

yes, we have guns, and more guns than they do.

that advantage is negated if we let them take the fight to us, picking us off individually and letting them achieve superior force and fire power by taking us out of the fight piece meal.

in short, we need to start planning how to fight the fight.

we need to plan how we may achieve local area force superiority in terms of numbers, and weapons, and firepower.  so that we may take the fight to our adversaries on terms that are conducive to our success, and our very survival.

so that we live, and do not die.

generally speaking, in my view this means that we must plan and organize, so that we take the initiative and do not rely on passive defense.

when and if the shit hits the fan.  and, if we have to throw the first bucket loads into the whirring blades to preserve our advantages, preserve our selves, so that we may live, then we need to start preparing on a tactical and strategic level to do so.

john jay @ 03.18.2013

the american insurrection .... when will it be fought? ....

soon.  soon enough.

john jay @  03.18.2013

 

p.s.   that's my guess.   runaway state legislatures such as oregon and washington's, and the idiots in california bring the matter home.   just a little spark, and we have a conflagration, such as obama and his cohorts never conceived.

guess who will be the objects of the people's wrath?

the oregon ducks get dissed ..... but, what a fantastic screwing it is .....

the oregon ducks men's basketball team finished tied for second in the pac-12 conference, but won the conference tournament beating ucla, and were at one time this season ranked in the top ten in the united states collegiate rankings.

not too bad.  not too bad, at all.

yet, at the ncaa tournament they got a very low seeding, as specious a screw job as anyone in the country, ... , seeded 12th in the midwest regional.  (if early press releases are to be trusted.)  they are seeded lower than any of their conference foes, those whom they vanquished during the regular season and during the conference tournament:  the ducks undoing was loosing to their lessor lesser foes.

but, what a screwing it turned out to be.

if any other number 12 seed in the tourney has been put into as favorable a position as the ducks, i would like to know about it.  if they win the first game and play well, they almost march into the regional final.  this is known otherwise, as the "elite 8."

the fact is, to advance in the tourney you have to win.  you loose, you are out.  and, to play with the big guys, you eventually have to play the big guys.  if you aren't up to it, you are gone, and it makes little difference what your seeding was.  the thing about the seeding, is that it is designed so that the big guys play the little guys early on, and are expect to devour them for a couple games, before they start playing "themselves," e.g., other "big guys."   oregon is expected to be devoured by oklahoma state.   but, if oregon can beat oklahoma state, a very doable thing, then oregon moves into the position of perhaps being able to devour the little guys oklahoma state was "designed" to devour by the seeding process.  so, oregon just might benefit in the long run by the machinations of the seeding committee.

a spurious, a specious, a royal screw job, .... ,  nonetheless, it's all the same, you have to win.

but, the oregon ducks have been put into a very favorable position as far as potential adversaries go, and it is hard to imagine a number 12 seeding being as advantageous as it is.  (hint:  again, the lower your seeding, the more it signifies the selection committee's intent to get rid of you early, to separate you as chaff from the wheat those worthies foresee as playing for all the marbles.  a number 12 seed is not a sign of respect.)

if the ducks win a couple early, they may very well find themselves positioned playing for those proverbial marbles.   and, all because of a royal fucking.  put simply.

john jay @ 03.17.2013

my friends ask, why is the heroism of this armed citizen coming to the aid of a police officer under attack, not in the national news?

why do not the nattering nabobs of negativity who run the national news media discuss this incident, in which an armed citizen came to the aid of a police officer, killing the officer's attacker.

update:  reported here, in a very thorough report the likes of which you will never read in any newspaper, nor hear on any broadcast.   "journalists" don't work this hard to find truth.  http://www.theshootist.net/2009/01/one-man-got-involved-perry_12.html .   and, please note, that i did not ferret these circumstances out.  the honor belongs to a reader, and a grateful "hat tip" to "bill," who provided the link in a comment to this post.  and, my thanks to bill, as well.   end update, 03.16.2013.

well, the short response is, that to do so would not promote their leftist agenda to disarm law abiding citizens, and would not promote the interests of obama and his gang of thugs to render us impotent before his transgressions.

please follow the link.   it is an incredible story.  of a very determined man who stepped up to difficult circumstances.   and, who was by all appearances, a very good shot, to boot.

http://www.wafb.com/Global/story.asp?S=4527526 .   the story of a bystander who came to the aid of an officer under siege is reported by jim shannon, channel 9, station wafb, a web affiliate of the big all seeing eye.   i cannot garner much more from the web site.   i cannot tell much more than that from the story, the classic elements of "who, where, what, when & why" not appearing with much prominence in the story.

john jay @ 03.15.2013

p.s.  time to go.  oregon plays utah in the pac-12 tourney, and i don't want to miss any more of it than i have already.

"jj's brit" is birthed as an ar-15, and it is up and running ....

a celebration is in order for the birth of "jj's brit" as a real live and functioning ar-15 rifle.

it was built in montana by a retired gun smith, my friend of many years, and he and his wife put me up at their house so that i could be there as it was fabricated.   it was built from scratch by parts from several vendors, ... ,  (i bought and built/assembled the lower receiver, and my friend cut, chambered and head-spaced the barrel, & mounted it to the upper), ... , including ds arms, mcgowen barrels, and a whole lot of things from yankee hill and magpul.  it is actually pretty conventional in a sense, being very similar in overall configuration to a lot of ar-15's.

special mention must be given to mr. harrison beane, of www.ar15performance.com , without whom the entire project would not have come to fruition.  mr. beane builds and markets the heart of the rifle, a barrel extension and bolt w/ a bolt face of .473" in diameter, allowing a cartridge with a head/case diameter to be used in the ar-15 platform.  

it is this aspect of my rifle which makes it highly unique.  singularly so, actually.

here is a picture of the heart and soul of my little ar-15 in "jj's brit," the matching set of a barrel extension and an ar-15 bolt w/ a .473" bolt face.  i have lifted it from mr. beane's website, which i don't think that he will mind.

http://www.ar15performance.com/_the_6br___800_series_parts .

the ar-15 in "jj's brit," a .284" caliber cartridge, is built as a combat rifle, as that was the whole and entire conception behind the .30/280 british cartridge of the early 1950's, which cartridge was my inspiration for the whole project.

below are several pictures of the little ar-15, both taken while the rifle rested on top of a bench at the local shooting range.  it is a compact rifle, though not so compact as the em-2 rifle which the british also developed.  it was truly a remarkable achievement, both rifle and cartridge, and it is a shame that both were dropped in favor of nato standardization with the 7.62x51mm nato round:  the united states pressured england to also adopt the fn fal battle rifle along with the .308 round, and then adopted the m-14 battle rifle instead of the fn fal.  go figure.

at any rate, my ar-15. --

 

caption:  this is the rifle, as described in the text.  it is shown on its first outing to the local shooting range.  the entire project has taken almost three years, from conception to building.

the rifle is on an ar-15 platform, and not the larger ar-10, even though the cartridge i have designed and built, the little "jj's brit" (trademark asserted) is based on a .473" case head: normally, such a cartridge would require a larger rifle.

please note the "irons."

another picture, of the same rifle, and the cartridge it fires. --

 

caption:  this photo shows the "jj's brit", (trademark asserted), sitting on top of a magazine from nodak spud, a maker of a wide variety of "assault rifle" products, including stamped receivers for the ak-47 trade.  the magazine is a steel replica of an early colt twenty round magazine for the 5.56mm nato cartridge.  it has been quite a project "massaging" this magazine, and another steel magazine from p.r.i. to accept the larger diameter cartridge which i have designed.

but, if you know a gunsmith of almost 30 years experience, 26 owning his own gunshop, you can find a way.  he showed me a trick or two to make the steel mags more "accepting" of their fatter brethren.

there will be a separate post on this topic, to follow.  now that i've figured out how to get the photo's to this computer.

the cartridge makes the rifle noteworthy, for the simple reason that it is larger, and has more internal case volume, than can be normally accommodated in the ar-15 platform.  again, the key feature which allows the use of a cartridge case which of greater diameter than normal, is the barrel extension and bolt from ar15 performance.

i continue to test fire the rifle, striving to attain reliability in feeding from the magazine which fit in the ar-15 magazine well.  this seems to be developing quite nicely, as the magazine(s) become slicked up from use, and as the cartridges get more reliable in coming up fast enough to be caught by the bolt as it cycles.

the rifle seems accurate.

i have fired it from a bench, holding the rifle in both hands, elbows resting on the table top, and i am obtaining consistent hits with it using the standard a-2 rear sight, and the standard post, e.g., "irons", on a gong at 300 yards.   the gong is about 14" x 18" or so.

update no. 2: 03.24.2013.  a scope has been fitted, and now begins the process of sighting in the rifle to the ranges of intended use.  the little rifle gives every indication of being a "shooter," and it has produced excellent accuracy in the few groups that i have shot with it at 100 yards.  it appears that it will be an "inch" rifle, if not better.  end update.

now i will develop loads for the rifle, as an ar-15.  i will be looking for "combat utility" at 350 to 400 yards or so, and will switch over to a scope sight in the next several days.  i am also fabricating about 150 cases for use in developing loads suitable to this task.

the barrel of the ar-15 is 18.5" in length, plus a flash suppressor.  my test mule, the bolt action "rem-chester" has a 22" barrel, so velocities obtained with it will probably not be readily equaled in the shorter barrel.  just a fact of life.

caption:  it is a compact little rifle, varying from 33.5" in length to 38.5", depending on whether the stock is fully extended.  the barrel is 18.5" of rifled tube, extended by a little over an inch by the flash suppressor.  it is very handy, and you would have to go to a bullpup like the british infantry rifles, or the tavor-21 recently developed by israel to have a much shorter rifle.

those alternatives are either not possible, or prohibitively expensive for me.  i purchased the items comprising this rifle over the course of a year or so, something readily possible with the ar-15 because parts are so ubiquitous, but absolutely impossible for the rifle platforms mentioned.

but, i don't think i shall loose that much potency, as rifles in the .308 winchester and 7mm-08 remington class obtain very respectable velocities from 18" tubes.

we'll see.

i'll keep you posted.

i'll update this post in the morning/next couple days, and try to get pictures in, ... , (please note, the provision of pictures has been done), ... ,  plus information on the velocities and accuracy potential of the loads i will be developing.  (no pictures, as my 10 year old dell precision 360 computer has the vapors.  i hate dinking with it, but, it will be a while before i have it up and running, i am afraid.  i had it "serviced," doncha know.)

but, the ar-15 rifle is built.   it is shooting.   and, it is increasingly reliable in feeding.  i shot the other day, and had one stove pipe jam, and one instance in which the nose of a lead tipped bullet slammed into the front of the magazine, and stopped.  about 30 other rounds functioned as intended.

update no. 1.  03.21.2013.  when i was contemplating getting my ar-15 up and running i anticipated problems in achieving reliable feeding.  these problems have not proved illusory, but, they have proved hardly insurmountable.  with some skill, and with some luck, the p.r.i. 6.8mm remington magnum magazine has proved reliable after a break in period, loading and feeding about 10 rounds at a time.

it will accept perhaps another round, but that last round causes problems, and it simply isn't worth the effort to load it.

another magazine shows some promise, and that is the nodak spud reproduction of the early colt slant bottom straight 20-round magazine.  it is a bit more problematic, having some "tilt" problems simply because the follower and spring are a bit "vintage" in concept, and do not accept the "magpul" type anti-tilt followers.  but, i have trimmed some of the baffles at the top of the magazine, near the feed lips, to allow the cartridge case to lie a bit closer to the base of the feed lips, and this has improved functioning.

hint:  this is definitely something that will void any warranty, express or implied.  and, i will keep you posted, to let you know whether the relief cuts end up splitting the feed lips, ... , definitely not a desirable outcome.    end update no. 1.

john jay @ 03.15.2013

p.s.  special thanks to p.r.i. and to nodak spud, who built the magazines i am using out of steel.  the also make the whole affair possible.

p.s.s.  and, many thanks to drew at barking moonbat.  he really kept me honest, during the design of the cartridge, and during initial load development.  and, many thanks to him in advance, as i will be calling on him again in the coming weeks.  count on it, drew.  laughing.