Shooting Illustrated:

I clean my AR-15 gas systems approximately every 1,000 rounds. Direct-impingement gas tubes are easily maintained by inserting a long [purpose-made] pipe cleaner wet with solvent into the tube, then following it up with a fresh pipe cleaner. The portion that extends through the upper receiver is easily cleaned with a couple cotton swabs. Carbon build-up on the inner surface of adjustable gas-block screws can be cleaned off with a wire brush after removing the screw(s). Operating-rod systems with removable gas regulators also benefit from occasional removal of carbon deposits. Follow the manufacturers’ instructions for cleaning them, as they tend to be unique. If your AR-15 has an operating rod that moves through a bushing in the upper receiver, a bit of lubrication on the rod where it passes through the bushing helps to prevent binding.

I guess I haven’t thought much about cleaning the gas system of my guns.  I guess I need to.

I want to express my most sincere appreciation to WiscoDave for filling in for me while I gallivanted in the woods.  Sometimes you just have to take a knee, and this was one of those times.  I wanted readers to be able to make visits and sound off, as well as mine the thoughts of a good man.

I found him in WiscoDave.  And to boot, he had experience writing elsewhere, so I want to thank Ken for loaning him to me for the week.

It’s obvious that WiscoDave is a harder working and busier man than I am, and besides, you needed a break from my ramblings and musings and droning on and on about whatever pissed me off last.

I hope you enjoyed the week with Dave.

Well, gentle friends, the hour has struck and the Captain is soon to retake his rightful place.

Hopefully he will find no cracks in his crystal egg.

As has been the custom, we begin with a quiet recitation of A. Shepard’s Prayer.

I hope my musings this week have been to your satisfaction.

I just put down the thoughts that came to me.

Obviously, my style is different front Mr. Smith’s. (Also,he knows how to use WordPress). I readily give way to his expertise on many subjects. My attempts were mainly devised to get you to consider things.

I doubt I could claim expertise in anything. I do have knowledge, along with scars and aches and pains.

I envy the tongue of the Bard:

“If we are mark’d to die, we are enough

To do our country loss; and if to live,

The fewer men, the greater share of honour.

God’s will! I pray thee, wish not one man more.

By Jove, I am not covetous for gold,

Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost;

It yearns me not if men my garments wear;

Such outward things dwell not in my desires.

But if it be a sin to covet honour,

I am the most offending soul alive.

No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England.

God’s peace! I would not lose so great an honour

As one man more methinks would share from me

For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more!

Rather proclaim it, Westmorland, through my host,

That he which hath no stomach to this fight,

Let him depart; his passport shall be made,

And crowns for convoy put into his purse;

We would not die in that man’s company

That fears his fellowship to die with us.

This day is call’d the feast of Crispian.

He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,

Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam’d,

And rouse him at the name of Crispian.

He that shall live this day, and see old age,

Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,

And say “To-morrow is Saint Crispian.”

Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,

And say “These wounds I had on Crispin’s day.”

Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,

But he’ll remember, with advantages,

What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,

Familiar in his mouth as household words—

Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter,

Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester—

Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb’red.

This story shall the good man teach his son;

And Crispin Crispian shall ne’er go by,

From this day to the ending of the world,

But we in it shall be rememberèd—

We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;

For he to-day that sheds his blood with me

Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,

This day shall gentle his condition;

And gentlemen in England now a-bed

Shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here,

And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks

That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.”

I did not want to trust that to my inadequate skills with linking.

This next, however, I must.

There is a tradition within a group to which I once belonged. I believe it continues to this day. A verse is sung on the Sabbath in remembrance of comrades departed.

I have encouraged that twice in my web of friends (see what I did there?).

Once for a man who had given much knowledge.

Once for a young woman taken far, far too soon.

Please, take a glass in hand.

And listen.

And remember.

[My apologies on having to copy and paste that in order to listen. You can also search for The High Kings Parting Glass].

edit: It worked!! It FINALLY worked!!

Goodnight, Mrs. Calabash. Wherever you are.

The week is nearing its’ end. Soon this place will be reclaimed by the rightful owner. But until then…

As is our habit, we start once again with a quiet recitation of A. Shepard’s Prayer.

Long days make for long weeks. My day begins at 1AM when I get up and tend to animals. I leave shortly after 2 on my 65 mile drive to work.

I return home, traffic willing, around 430PM. I tend to animals, then to myself (there’s a wife in there someplace) and retire, hopefully, before 7PM. Rinse and repeat. That pretty much is my week.

But Friday. Friday is special. Not only is it the end of my work week (OK, my paycheck earning work. Plenty to do around the farmstead on the weekend) but it is the day of THE FRIDAY FISH FRY!!!

Those of you who have never experienced it are probably staring at this quizzically. Those that live in WI take it so for granted that it’s difficult to comprehend what a unique phenomenon it really is until you reflect on it.

A wonderful peek at it can be found here

http://tdhtales.blogspot.com/2017/03/fish-fry.html.

[Hot damn, I think I did that right!]

So, how does a glimpse into my journey to another quadruple bypass operation fit into this week’s theme? [I really hope this blue underlining goes away when I post this. Damn, tried to fix it and now everything’s underlined].

To me, the fish fry is something to look forward to. [OK. Underlining gone but it’s still blue. Sigh]. A little mental diversion to help “get through the week.” We all have, or at least I hope we all have, some thing that we look forward to. Maybe not as dramatic as a cast away clinging to hope and life but some thing/thought to have as a goal or mental diversion.

If/as things fall apart I believe things to look forward to will be critical to our mental health and wellbeing. Please remember that I’m not talking about getting so caught up in a day dream fantasy that a monkey drops a rock on your head and removes you from the equation. Just a little something that helps you keep going.

My wife’s stepdad was in the 1st Cav in Vietnam. He kept a picture of his muscle car in his helmet. He had left the car all tarped up and ready for his return when he left. The thought of that car kept him going through his tour. When he rotated home he actually met one of his brothers who was heading over to start his tour. They talked briefly. Bob’s brother, Lee, mentioned that nothing special was going on at home and that all was pretty much the same as when he had left. They parted ways, each continuing on their journey. Lee left out the part where he had taking Bob’s car out of storage and totaled it. Oh well. Life goes on.

Until tomorrow.

Well, made it past the halfway mark with no pitchforks and torches visible on the horizon. We’ll take that as a good thing.

As is our habit, we start once again with a quiet recitation of A. Shepard’s Prayer.

As I’m sure most of you know the months of summer do far more than bring forth a bounty of corn and beans. They bring forth the ubiquitous rummage/garage/sale here signs that beckon you to wreck your wallet on the rocks of their wares.

But all is not lost, my mariner of the concrete (asphalt and gravel work, so does dirt) seas of the modern world. Bargains are to be had that can greatly aid you in your survival goals at a great savings when compared to the harpies of retail.

The key to successful navigation in these areas is to have a plan. Look first for obvious items such as garden tools: rakes (garden is my preferred type), shovels (pointed or flat are my preferred) along with a miscellany of small “planting type” tools are my personal “look fors.”

Granted, having a small farmstead makes it difficult to have too many of these things. Think ahead to how many other able bodies you might be dealing with and equip for them.

Next I look for outdoor “stuff.” Hunting items, heavy duty clothing and things of that nature. Hopefully it will fit me or my wife. After that, generic sizes will do for the “others.”

Next food preservation items. Canning equipment and supplies. Both water bath and pressure. Remember, you may not have electric so I’d lean more heavily towards the stove top variety. Also you need to consider how many are in, or might be in, your tribe. With canning equipment the more you can have going the faster (and more) can get done. Dehydrators are something of a “Holy Grail” item to find. While they require electricity you can run them 24/7 and preserve damn near everything. [Remember a few days ago when we talked of training? While a class in canning and preserving food is not as “sexy” as a small unit deployed in an ambush class might be, I’ll bet you spend more time eating than fighting. Just a guess. YMMV].

I could go on but your situation will be different than mine. A person in an apartment might see little use for shovels and rakes but I know a guy that has, I’m pretty sure at least one, multiple dehydrators going constantly. He does everything.

I’m thinking he’s almost got water down…

Don’t just think rummage sales. Thrift stores are also great to search through. Looking for bargains on food alone could be a whole ‘nother post.

I’m sure you see the point of all of this now. Yeah, you’re buying something used. What do you think that new shovel will be the day after you buy it?

Please remove pants before ironing.

Management is not responsible for items left overnight.

Day 3. The journey continues.

We start once again with a quiet recitation of A. Shepard’s Prayer.

Due to popular demand (OK, a couple of comments by James) I’ll throw my two cents out there with regards to the 3D printer files kerfluffle going on.

First off, it seems that there are files out there that have been previously released. All you have to do is look for them. They’ve been out there for years. Defense Distributed may have some newer designs they wanted to release but there are plans out there for at least the Liberator.

Secondly, I’m loving all of the “pearl clutching” and anti-gun/anti-freedom moral outrage being spewed by all of the usual suspects. Once again they can breathlessly hype (and probably fund raise off of) absolutely nothing.

C’mon, people. There already are well over 300 million guns in the USA. A few more single shot homemade ones are not going to push us off of a cliff.

If you’re working the angle that you want to make one “off of the books” you’re fooling yourself. You’re already on a list if you’ve ever done anything, belonged to anything or bought anything (by means other than cash/barter) gun related. Spending a couple grand on a special machine and then ordering special materials only to have to go and buy additional components in order to complete it does not an off the books gun make. I don’t doubt that it could be done BUT I’m guessing that you’re already on a list.

Don’t get me wrong here. I’m not in the least against someone doing it themselves. It’s just not for me. And, in my opinion, there are far better ways of spending your money.

One suggestion I have is to get a combination drill press/lathe/mill and have something that can do far more than just 3D printing. They can be had for less than $2,000. I know they’re not perfect but they’ll suffice unless you want to get separate, full sized stand alone machines. Besides, metalworking can be a fun hobby and a valuable skill.

History tells many stories of “hidden” firearms manufacturing in occupied areas. I have heard stories, but can’t verify, of Sten gun plans being dropped to the resistance in France during WWII so they could make them.

I also stumbled across this article during my browsing: http://thepeoplescube.com/peoples-blog/shovel-ready-ak-47-t10152.html. I don’t know who this guy is but he seems familiar.

In short, I’m loving it but it’s not for me. Maybe if you want to make me some of those Frito Bandito erasers from a few years back…

I’ll wait for the technology to get advanced to the point like in that old Star Wars tv show from the ’60’s. You know, where Kirk and Jeannie would ask the Tardis to make something and there it was. Yeah. I’m waiting for that.

Well, as far as I know Herschel hasn’t come screaming out of the woods to end this little escapade so either all is going well or he’s blissfully unaware of what is going on.

We start day two in front of the Golden TCJ Keyboard with a quiet recitation of A. Shepard’s Prayer and get right into it.

Yesterday I brought up training that is available from a plethora of instructors in a variety of areas. One thing that may bring pause in consideration of actively seeking training is what value or practical use will it be. To be honest, unless you plan on developing a program that will continually refresh and reinforce what you learned the skills you paid to learn will go away. Use or lose it, so to speak. In my opinion having a plan in place to continually utilize what you have learned is just as important as the training itself.

Sometimes the training you get can have unexpected, and pleasant, results.

A very good friend has taken a few of Mosby’s classes. Now this guy is a driven animal in his approach to this stuff. His time is too precious to waste on something that he will not be willing to use and build on.

I received an email from him with regards to an “opportunity” he had to use the skills learned from Mosby. Here are his words:

“Local PD rangemaster just invited me to use their indoor range tomorrow night with whatever hardware I want. I asked about my AK w/fmj and he said sure, why not if I get tired of their Eotech’d M-4s. Methinks word about me attending Mosby’s classes has reached the right ears. Or not…”

“Okay – that was a blast and very ego satisfying. No way around it. Turns out I was being used but in a good way. Anyone surprised about that? Anyhoo, showed up as planned dressed in Dickies and a sweatshirt and a concealed G19. Shoulder bag held the day’s work clothes, work Makarov and holster, earpro, etc that I didn’t want to leave in the car.  Got met and buzzed in and greeted by two before led into a concrete maze to the range. Trip chat was them asking about my background & interest in firearms, what training and why. My views on what a man is and being prepared to solve one’s own problems seemed to go over well enough and I asked about their interest in me. They’d heard some favorable things and wanted to see for themselves.

We get to the range and I drop the bag and grab the earpro from it. Targets are man sized armed perp pics at 75 feet. They tell me to help myself and get warmed up. I notice how little direction they give me and suspect it’s a test to see how I run on my own re safety etc. Everyone’s ears are already on so I lift my shirt, skin my smokewagon and start putting rounds in and around the head of my target. They jump back and start swearing before calming back down. It never occurred to them I might be carrying and ready to go *immediately*. Gotta say that was enjoyable to see.

To my joy I’m getting good face hits at 75 feet and the misses are within 4 inches and a number of those “misses” are upper chest and neck hits due to jerking the trigger down. We’d only gone to 30 feet max with Mosby so this was seriously pushing it for me, but I remembered the training and worked the steps in order. They look at the target and say that wasn’t bad at all. Later they tell me I’m better than all but a few in the department and those equal or better are gun nuts, present company included. Turns out this is department weapon qualification week and they wanted to show the newer officers their marksmanship borderline sucks and there are civilians out there who can and will put pistol rounds in their face at 75 feet before they can draw.

Next up are the carbines, again at 75 feet. They’re all zeroed so hits are quick and easy. Eotechs are nice but irons are plenty at that close range. Easy as it is, several officers need hours to qualify and some never do (with no real consequences due to affirmative action and the union). I pointed at holes in the ceiling downrange and asked if those were what I thought they were. He shook his head and said ‘fraid so. There’s more but you get the idea. All involved made friends and left friends and a great time was had at least by me and I was given two full medbags – probably a result of my mentioning the TC3 training I got with the pistol class and how I’d spent a bunch of my money to fill out my very inadequate kit. I doubt they’d have done that if they thought I was an asshole at the end.”

So, there IS value in the training you get but only if you have a plan to keep your skills fresh and take advantage of opportunities as they may arise.

Please note the generally poor marksmanship of the department’s officers. These are paid professionals. Unless they have a personal interest in the shooting arts they have no real motivation to try and excel at it. My friend, with Mosby’s training under his belt (and his desire to excel) out shot the majority of officers on a fairly large department. He was the equal of their best.

Let that sink in.

[Sorry about the font change after the quote. Monkey just pressing buttons. I’m also forced to use my phone because I have had no luck getting my computer to work with WordPress. Sigh.

Mongo just pawn in game of life…]

Until next time.

A week or so ago Herschel contacted me and said he was going on a trip and asked if I would “like to guest post for him that week” or something like that. I replied that I was both humbled and honored by his request and said yes.

I then told him I have no idea how to do any of this. That didn’t seem a deterrent. We figured it out.

I still don’t know what I’m doing…

Well, a quiet recitation of A. Shepard’s Prayer and here we go.

Ruby Ridge, then Waco.

All we get is Xin Loi.

Countless no-knock SWAT raids with innocents and dogs injured and killed.

All we get is Xin Loi.

People shot dead in the doorway of their home, because…

All we get is Xin Loi.

LaVoy Finicum.

All we get is Xin Loi.

FBICIANSA shredding the Constitution they took an oath to.

All we get is Xin Loi.

Politicians raping this country, both figuratively and literally.

All we get is Xin Loi.

When is our Xin Loi moment?

There are a plethora of trainers out there ready, willing and able to pass on valuable skills that will greatly increase your chances of survival (or at least make a decent accounting) in the struggles that seem to be on the horizon.

Martial skills.

Medical skills.

Communication skills.

Local communities can even offer an education in growing and preserving food.

There is a wealth of knowledge out there. Knowledge to be gained in any price range. For any skill level.

You just have to look around. Urban, suburban or rural. It’s there.

The only thing I haven’t found is a course that tells you when to get out/bunker in. Or, more importantly, when to shoot.

Even Selco will tell you that he doesn’t have the answer to that. Sure, there are signs. Easily visible in hindsight.

But hindsight only helps the living.

In my “youth” I knew a man, a Korean War vet. A big man. Beyond good with a rifle, knife or tomahawk.

He would always say that he would make the first move. We were just to watch. We wouldn’t know when to shoot. He would. By the time we figured it out it would be over.

The Time to Shoot had passed and the Time of Shooting had started.

He’s long dead now. The ferryman has his payment.

I wish I could ask him about the time to shoot. Maybe, just maybe I could learn something.

Folks and valued readers.

I’ll be “out of pocket” for the week.  I’m making what I believe will be a very interesting and adventurous trip with one of my sons, and I’ve been preparing for a long time for this.

I’m tired of the hiking, biking, gym visits,  swimming and other punishment I’ve dealt out to my body for this trip.  I’m ready to get it on.  I want to do this thing.

I think I’ll have some very nice pictures for you when I get back, as well as some observations for you about being in the bush.  In fact, I already know I’ve got some observations that will interest you just in preparing for this trip.

In my absence, WiscoDave will be guest blogging.  Be kind to him.

Vox has gotten its pink panties all in a wad over big bullets and guns, looking for something else to control.  The amusing thing about this “study” is this.

I think someone needs to go back and review the definition of caliber (Which is a measure of the inside diameter of the barrel, most often specified in fractional inches, not in metric units).

So this “study” has the .357 magnum shown as a large caliber, while the .38 special is shown as a medium caliber, ignoring the fact that it’s the very same round.

The 7.62X39 belongs in with the medium caliber, not large caliber in this picture.  And none of this has anything to do with ballistics.

Layers and layers of fact checkers for this “study.”  And Vox has no more sense than to glom onto something as stupid as this.

But restrict “big bullets and guns” and the world will be a better place, and pink unicorns will fart pixie dust rainbows while we hold hands and sing Kumbaya around a campfire.

Or something.