8/31/2006
Kudos to Lacey City Government
Now, I have a healthy dislike of government,and government functionaries, at all levels. But when government employees do their job efficiently, courteously, and in a manner that is helpful to me, the taxpayer, that merits some positive attention.
I say this because, over the last two days, I had a very positive experience in dealing with the Lacey city government. I want to remove some trees from my property, and I was filled with dread when I discovered that I had to get permission from the city to do so.
I'm not going to deal with the absurdity of the law that says I can't do what I want with my trees on my property. I went over to city hall, and filled out the forms to have the forrester/arborist come out and examine my trees, and to ask permission to cut those trees down. The lady who helped me, Marcy, was extremely helpful, especially when you consider I showed up during the lunch hour. She asked when would be a good time to have the forrester come out, and I said as soon as possible, because the contractor is doing another job right down the street in a couple weeks, and if he can do both at the same time, it'll save me some money, she got right on the phone and called.
The forrester, Galen, showed up at my house later that afternoon. Needless to say, I was impressed.
This afternoon, I went back to city hall with my completed request to remove the trees. Ms. Marcy helped again. The forrester's report wasn't on file yet, so she called him and got the necessary information. Fifteen minutes later, I walked out with my permission slip.
So, once again, kudos to the city of Lacey, and especially to Marcy and Galen the forrester.
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Double Standard
A man of central Asian Muslim origins, and of questioned mental stability shoots up a Jewish center in Seattle, and we hear cries for more gun control.
A man of central Asian Muslim origins, and of questioned mental stability, runs down 14 people in San Francisco in his motor vehicle, and despite the fact that more Americans are killed by cars than by being shot, and despite the fact that more police officers die in car accidents than from being shot, why do I not hear more calls for motor vehicle control?
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What's Wrong With This Picture?
And no, it's not that Lt. Watada is in it. I just noticed it a couple days ago, because I never saw any TV news coverage of his original press conference. But I did see it in some file footage in a story on his Art. 32 hearing.
Here's the pic.
Now, allow me to quote 36 U.S.C 175(i):
"When displayed either horizontally or vertically against a wall, the union should be uppermost and to the flag's own right, that is, to the observer's left."
As the Armorer notes, "He's not very savvy, his lawyers less so." That goes for his handlers as well. At a press conference to proclaim that he's a good American soldier, doing his patriotic duty to refuse unlawful orders, the flag is displayed backwards.
Attention to detail, El-Tee, attention to detail.
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8/29/2006
I Am the White Death
I just want to know how the heck I scored more as Italy (the only country to get seriously stomped by the French in WWII) than the US. HT to the Armorer.
 | You scored as Finland. Your army is the army of Finland. You prefer to win your enemy by your wit rather than superior weapons. Enemy will have a hard time against your small but effective force.
Finland | | 100% | British and the Commonwealth | | 94% | Poland | | 94% | Italy | | 88% | United States | | 69% | Germany | | 63% | France, Free French and the Resistance | | 63% | Japan | | 50% | Soviet Union | | 31% |
In which World War 2 army you should have fought?
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Another New Old Gun
UPDATE: Now with pics!
This time, a 1944 Sako-made M39 from Finland, shooter grade purchased from Empire Arms. I'll post some pics later, because I don't feel like dicking around to get the pictures cropped all nice and pretty right now.
The new 1944 Sako (top) with his older brother, a 1941 VKT.
Now, my first thought when I took the rifle out of the box was, "This is shooter grade?" Because, well, the wood is quite lovely, with both the Sako and stockmaker's cartouches quite clear and distinct. (The stock was made by whoever used the yin/yang in front of crossed hammers symbol.) There are a couple of dings, but overall the wood is quite nice to look at. Personally, I think the Finns have some of the prettiest wood out there.
The metal, well, the metal doesn't have much finish left, and some of the non-critical parts like the magazine floorplate don't match, although the bolt and receiver do. The buttplate looks like it spent its share of time resting on the parade ground or formation area next to someone's boot-no blueing, and lots of nicks and scrapes. Oh, and no cosmo that I found.
The real surprises came when I took it apart. Always have to pull the action of of the stock with Finnish Mosins, so you can see the manufacturer's mark and year on the receiver tang, and maybe find out that your new rifle isn't, legally, a firearm at all, since many Finnish Mosins, like my 1941 VKT M91, are built on receivers made before the turn of the 20th century-in my case, in 1898 at Sestroryesk. But this one was only made in 1903 at Tula-which still makes it 2 years older than the eldest of my late grandparents.
The first surprise came when I removed the handguard to find the barrel covered in some sort of black grease. Still nice and fresh looking, not dried out. It reminded me most of the GMD (Grease, Molybdenum) that is used to lube the bolt-and-track on the Bradley's 25mm chaingun. Not sure if this is the Finnish equivalent of cosmoline or what.
When I removed the magazine, I got another surprise. In addition to more of the black grease, which on the magazine was dried out, there was dirt, actually more like sand, and even a small fir needle. Removing the action from the stock revealed more dried grease and more grit, including a couple more needles.
Dirt from WWII? Note the needles.
I didn't clean the grease or dirt off, just put the rifle back together. With old military rifles like this, ths dirt makes me think, "How long has it been in there? Is that dirt from some foxhole of the Continuation War? Or just accumulated grit from later years of service, trips to the rifle range and standing in formation on a sandy parade field?" And then I wonder, if it doesn't hurt the rifle any (I plan to take this rifle hunting this fall), should I just leave it there, even if I don't know what story the dirt and needles have to tell? History is history, and once you destroy a piece of history, you can't bring it back.
Oh, and does anyone know any good 7.62x54R loads for deer and elk? And are Lapua's .308 bullets really .308 or closer to the nominal .310 bore of the M39? Taking a deer and/or elk with a Finnish rifle firing Finnish ammo (at least, ammo made from Finnish parts) would be quite satisfying.
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