Computer Woes, Part Deux...

Well, it looks like my desktop has joined the bleeding choir invisible. The power supply was indeed gone but, apparently, it took the motherboard with it. Guess I'm now in the market for a barebones kit to add my components into.

I'll need a motherboard that has an AGP video slot and I may need new ram chips as my old comp used DDR ram as opposed to DDR2. Fortunately, the new power supply and hard drives are fine. Might as well add a DVD Rom drive while I'm at it.

Any suggestions?

One Set Of Computer Woes Down...

...one to go. Yes, I'm actually posting this from my recliner. Now I'm going to lug my desktop up to my folks for the weekend and see if we can't get it up and running again.

WANT!

The image at the left is from the Kel-Tec Owner's Group bulletin board. Those who hang out with me know that I've been drooling over this for a while now. However, I've gotten just a teensy bit more rabidly obsessed over the last month or so ever since KT announced that these would be shipping sometime this month. I'm not exactly certain why I want this particular rifle over a tried-and-proven design like the FAL which I could get for around the same price point.

I guess it just turns me on.

AR Upgrades

Dick and I got in a little trigger time this past Friday. I shot my AR, Saiga .308, and Puma .357. The Saiga and Puma both gave me feeding problems. The Saiga exhibited the same tendency to stovepipe that it always has. The Puma was tending to let the nose of the rounds come up too far and jam against the upper edge of the chamber. It was jamming about every third round.

Afterward, we installed the YHM AR-15 free-float handguard that I've had ever since I bought the AR parts kit from Del-Ton. It was actually significantly easier to install than I imagined. The most difficult part was breaking loose first the flash hider and then the barrel nut. I'm really pleased with the handguard so far.

I went ahead and pre-ordered the Burris AR-332. After doing a little more research, it appears that SWFA are scheduled to get these in around February 11. I'll do a review once I get it in and get a chance to shoot with it (the latter of which may take a while since I can't seem to get rifle time in too often lately)

I've decided to scrap the idea I had for suppressing the Puma since it's obviously not as reliable as I'd like for enjoyable plinking and the work to get it both reliable and set up for the suppressor would be extensive and expensive. Now I'm toying with the idea of suppressing my AR. The AR is already threaded and can be suppressed by either threading directly onto the barrel or by using a quick-detachable flash hider. Right now I'm leaning toward the YHM Stainless Phantom. It's rated for full-auto fire as well as being made from stainless steel which should make it more durable as well as being easier to clean. It looks like it retails for about $460 for direct barrel mounting or $535 for the QD flash hider mount option. And, of course, the $200 government-mandated extortion fee NFA tax stamp.

Anyone have suggestions for which mounting option to use? I doubt I'll be using the rifle for hunting, which is the only reason I can think of for removing the suppressor. But it might be nice to be able to take the suppressor off without resorting to using an upper receiver vise.

Burris AR-332 Prism Sight

Burris has announced a 3x Prism sight intended specifically for the AR-15 series of rifles. It's unclear to me whether this is a red-dot style sight or if the reticle can simply be illuminated (the latter is the direction I'm hoping they go). The reticle is a "donut"-style with .223 bullet drop compensator built in. The base appears to be interchangeable for carry handle or picatinny mounting. There are also picatinny rails built into the scope body itself. I'm not sure what they're supposed to be used for since this is being marketed as a CQ-style optic but I'm sure someone will find something to bolt on there.

SWFA is currently offering these on their website (obviously a pre-order) for $209.95. At that price, I may just have to try one.

ETA: Based on a mini-review I read from a SHOT Show attendee, the reticle is indeed of the illuminated variety rather than a red-dot style. *Happy Dance!*

An Update AND a Rant, All In One!

These last few weeks have been crazy. Between getting Christmas shopping done, visiting relatives, visiting friends, and planning more visits with relatives, I haven't managed to get anything constructive done around the house that I was planning to do. Which really isn't a big price to pay at all for spending time with loved ones at Christmas.

What I have managed to do is to catch up on laundry, get my Para LTC (that was beginning to rust - more on that later) traded out for a Glock 20, get new tires on my truck (Along with a new tie rod end and a front end alignment), and get traps and poison set out for the uninvited guest I mentioned previously.

Now, what's the deal with Para-Ordnance? I've had two Para pistols, both of which have exhibited a disturbing tendency to rust. The first was a P12-45 that rusted underneath the Hogue grips that I installed. After oiling it to make sure that exact problem wouldn't happen. The LTC began rusting at the hammer, the guide rod plug, and the slide rails. The former two are blued parts, so I'm not really all that surprised given my track record with bluing. But come on! The freaking slide rails?

Now, I realize that Para uses some kind of polymer coating for the OD Green finish. But I also own several CZ firearms and I've never had issues with the pieces that receive the polycoat finish rusting. The safety, slide stop, and hammer, yes (blued parts, see above) but not the polycoated parts. So, I don't have anything against "painted-on" finishes, as some have dubbed them. I think I just have something against the particular finish Para uses. Or maybe used. Both of the pistols I had were older firearms. It's possible Para has switched to something different by now.

On to the new Glock. The 20 will be getting the same treatment as my model 21. I've ordered a 3.5# trigger bar to install, two extended slide stops (one for each pistol), and a set of XS 24/7 Big Dot sights. Those sights on my 21 have sold me on the concept of express sights on a pistol. They are accurate enough for social use and fast to boot. Right now, I'm thinking the 21 will be doing nightstand duty and the 20 will be my main carry piece. This is, of course, assuming that the 20 passes function testing with the new parts I've ordered.

Well, that about does it for me. I'm off to get my hair cut and deposit my paycheck that I thought was a direct deposit receipt when I received it last week.

Frustration and Gratification

Well, it seems that I was a bit hasty about announcing my employment. My boss did indeed receive an email stating that I had passed my background check and that I was good to go. However, it seems that the background check that had come back was for another gentleman who had just been hired whose middle name is Barrett. My background check results did not come in until yesterday and therefore today was my first day on the payroll.

The only real problem that resulted from the miscommunication was that, since I thought I was off contract, I didn't send my time sheet in to my employment agency until this morning. Which means that it will be a week from Thursday before I get my next check. Things are going to be a bit tight what with the holiday travel I have planned and it being the end of the month but I'm pretty sure I will be able to squeeze by.

On another note, I made several purchases over the past month and a half that have all come in recently. The first is my Blade-Tech holster and magazine pouch for my Glock. I'm satisfied with the workmanship in their products, as always. My only gripe is that the mag pouch is set up so that the mag can only be inserted in one direction and it just happens to be opposite of the way I prefer to have the mag seated. But that's a rather minor annoyance.

I also received some XS big dot sights for the Glock. I've not had a chance to shoot with them yet. I'll post an update once I have.

Lastly, I've gotten an ACE lightweight stock for my AR. It's very close in length to the setting I had the CTR stock set for and doesn't yank whiskers out of my face every other time I shoulder it. Should have used a lube on the foam padding while installing it. I ended up taking out a couple of chunks. Figure I'll just get some electrical tape or black duct tape and patch it up. In order to match the stock, I also picked up a black Magpul pistol grip (the non-modular one) and put the old black handguards back on the upper. It's a true EBR again.

Veteran's Day Sale

Blade-Tech is having a Veteran's Day sale in which just about everything is 25% off. I have several of their holsters and a mag pouch and I'm very pleased with the quality/price point ratio even when they're not having a sale. In fact, I'll probably order an item or two for my new Glock while I'm at it.

Go check it out.

Quite A Weekend

Went to my parent's place this weekend. Mom was out Friday and most of Saturday but we got to visit late Saturday night and most of today. She, my sis, aunt, and cousin all went to LR to participate in the Race for the Cure (my maternal grandma died of cancer and my aunt is a survivor). Dad and I worked on my truck, replacing the front shocks and changing the oil. We also had some time for some heart-to-heart chats that there hasn't been much opportunity for lately. I enjoyed the visit thoroughly.

On separate note, my Dresden Files 2009 calendar arrived while I was away. I'm trying to determine the appropriate place to hang it. Present thinking is 'on the wall'. I've not got much further than that.

I've got some new mag springs and followers for my Witness coming in tomorrow. I've had some issues with the stock followers hanging or being sluggish to bring the rounds into position after the top round is fed. The Gram's followers from Henning Shoots Guns are supposed to help with such issues based on some posts at the CZ Forum's Clone Club. I'm itching to try them out.

And lastly...WANT!

It's Been a Great Day!

Today has been a great day.

I went with several of the guys at work to the new pizza place in town, Old Chicago. Probably the best thick-crust pizza I've ever eaten.

My new knife came in today. It's a thicker blade than what I had thought it'd be and the handle size and blade length are exactly what I'd hoped they'd be. I'm quite happy with it so far. Now it just needs a little better edge on it. The sheath is quite nice, too.

I finally managed to get the custom hammer from CZCustom.com fitted to my 97B. I managed to botch the fitting slightly as I really didn't have the right tools for the job. So there's a noticeable bit of creep to the trigger before let off. It's still better than the factory trigger that came on it. I also got the SA trigger to reset properly. Unfortunately, the take-up adjustment is now missing (tho I don't think it would have worked anyway given the way it fit before) and there are a couple of large shiny patches where I had to remove some of the material and the aluminum is showing through the finish. But a little aluminum black should fix that right up. The slimline grips that I had ordered now allow the magazine to drop free after a bit of judicious filing. Overall, I'm pleased with this setup and can hardly wait to try it out.

I'll be heading up to my parents this Friday. My truck is in need of an oil change and there's something wrong either with one of my shocks or with a torsion bar. When the front driver's shock deflects past a certain point, there's a pop that can be heard inside the cab and felt underneath the driver's foot. I'm going to have to have dad's jack and concrete floor to pull the tire and check/change the shock and torsion bar.

Mom, sis, and my aunt and cousin are all going to be in Little Rock this Friday and Saturday. I'm hoping that we can get an opportunity to all get together for lunch or something on Friday before I head up to their neck of the woods.

Oh, and I finally sent in my change of address info for my voter's registration this past Saturday (thanks for the help, Dick). I should now be eligible to vote in the coming elections.

New Knife

Well, I broke down and bought a new knife today. I may very well end up regretting this. The description states that the blade was made using sewing needles. I'm hopeful that, if this has been done well, it should make for a very durable and sharp knife.

One of the failings I have regarding knives is that I tend to use them for things that they're really not designed for: prying, tightening screws, etc. I hope that, this being as expensive as it is, I'll stick with its intended usage exclusively. As such, I may still be in the market for a tough knife that can stand up to the abuse that I tend to put my pocket knives through. If you know of any small working-type knives with blades ~2.5"-3.25" in length and at least 3/8" thick that can hold up to heavy use/abuse, please let me know.

But I'm thinking it might be best if I tried making my own. I'm thinking that I may either use a file or pry-bar for the stock, anneal it to remove the temper, cut and file to shape and start the bevel, then re-temper and finish the edge and polish. Thoughts?

"Kindle"ing My Desire

Thanks to Brian, I now have an itch for the Amazon Kindle.

This does not bode well for my bank balance...

Found On The 'Net

Several things have caught my attention lately and, honestly, I doubt I can do them all justice, so...

...time for some linky love!

The ATF has managed to misplace 76 firearms.

Tam gives a history lesson that is eerily familiar.

Breda guest hosts "Gun Nuts Radio".

Apparently there was a shooting at ASU Jonesboro this past weekend. Second-degree battery seems kinda light for shooting at and (kinda) hitting someone. Makes me wonder what extenuating circumstances there might have been.

I've decided I need to get another (better) safe/security container for my firearms. I've glanced at a few at Academy Sports in Little Rock and need to take a more serious look there and at Gander Mountain and Ft. Thompson sometime soon, maybe this weekend. I've taken a look around at a few safes online and this particular safe jumped out at me as being laid out quite well for my needs. I don't know if the price listed on that site is good, bad, or ugly but it doesn't seem too badly out of line at first blush. Shipping on something that size obviously sucks, so I'd like to find something local so that I can just have them load it in the back of the Tahoe and shamelessly guilt Dick and R into helping me get it into the house.

Well, that's it. Hopefully I'll have something meatier next time.

Take Me Away, Officers...

...'cause I'm a thief!

Dick, L, T, and I went to the LR fun show Saturday. I spent most of my time scoping out .22 rifles (a few of which I was tempted by), looking for a Witness-P Carry in 10mm (none of which were in evidence), and generally just checking out the unusual amount of unusual stuff that's so seldom in evidence at these shows.

We were considering wrapping up and packing it in when, at a small corner booth, I saw a pristine little CZ 75 Compact, '02 manufacture. And then my eyes went a little wild when I saw the $300 price tag. I picked it up and looked it over and it was clean as a whistle. The gent behind the table began to tell me about the pistol but I let him know that I had quite a bit of experience with CZs in general and knew them to be fine guns. I then asked if the pistol had the case or any extra mags with it, to which he replied in the negative. Ah, well, no matter. Still a good deal.

And then he tells me that he can come down to $275 and he'll take care of the taxes. To which I replied, "You take checks or cards?"

So now I'm the proud owner of a CZ 75 Compact. Magazines are proving difficult to find for reasonable prices but I'm not giving up. And I think I may have to try out Crimson Trace's lasergrips for this one as well. The worst part of that is the grips have a MSRP that's more than I gave for the pistol!

New Gear

I've been neglecting this site recently. My apologies to anyone who visits with any regularity.

I have a few new gun-related items to write about. The first is a new red-dot scope offered by Vortex: the Strikefire. This is a relatively inexpensive red-dot that aims at the gap in quality between the $50 Chinese sights found everywhere these days and the $400 and up "serious use" red-dots such as the Aimpoint or EOTech. It uses a single CR2 battery, has a red or green dot, comes with a 2x magnifier that screws into the rear of the unit, and a 30mm ring with your choice of two heights.

I currently have the unit on my AR that I built back a few months ago. I'm using one of the goose-neck style mounts with an Aimpoint ring to get it to the correct height. Unfortunately, I've not had a chance to shoot with it yet. I'll give an update on my findings once I have a chance to wring it out. Right now, my only complaints are that you have to change the colors via the power button. I personally would have preferred a two-position style switch for this instead of having to push the button twice to either shut it off or get the desired color. The order of the colors also reverses itself with each cycle. As far as the dot itself, it still exhibits the same tendency to flare that every red-dot I've ever used has had.

I have also received on Thursday the High Noon Holsters Rock Steady Belt and laminate holster for my CZ 97B (that also works with my 10mm Witness-P) that I ordered back on February 22. Yeah, that was quite a wait but their website does state that their order times are long. It's not like I wasn't warned. Moreover, it looks like the wait was definitely worth it. This belt is exactly what the name describes: rock steady. It's incredibly thick and with the holsters that I've tried, it doesn't even think about sagging or twisting. I highly recommend this belt to anyone who is looking for a good belt to carry any substantial weight on it. Just don't expect to get it in a hurry.

The laminate holster is also a good bit of gear. It's not all that pretty but it does the job and does it well. I'm considering getting another one in their leather line (probably for a Witness-P Carry model in 10mm if I can find one reasonably priced).

Speaking of Witness-P pistols, I had an opportunity to shoot mine again over the Labor Day Weekend. The magazines and new mag catch worked great with nary a malfunction to be seen. I'm now planning to buy a mess of Georgia Arms 10mm (and probably some .45 ACP as well) to break it in right. They have newly loaded 10mm with Gold Dot hollowpoints that are zipping along in the same general power class as the Winchester Silvertips (at least according to Winchester's velocity data which has been disputed as being higher than actual and Georgia Arms' velocity data which has been verified several times by customers). And they're significantly cheaper than the WSTs to boot.

Papa's Got A Brand New Bed

Mom and dad came down for a visit Friday night and the better part of Saturday. We did some running around while they were here as I have been mulling the purchase of a new mattress for a few months now. I always prefer to get input from both mom and dad on purchases of significant dollar amount on items with which I am unfamiliar. And this would be the first mattress that I've bought, ever.

We made the rounds to several furniture companies that I'd spotted previously and found a few likely candidates at each store. Then, we headed back to my house and dad picked up the phone book and started looking at furniture stores. That lead us to Bates Furniture in downtown Conway. Turns out they carry Dreamline mattresses, a brand that I had heard of before but was unfamiliar with. In talking with the salesman, we found out that the Dreamline mattresses are actually manufactured in Cabot, AR, less than 50 miles away. That was kinda the clincher for me as the mattress was just as comfortable as all but one of the others that I'd tried (that one being a $1400 model that I couldn't afford much less justify). The 25-year warrantee didn't hurt either. (Though the paperwork that came with the mattress says 20 years. Still better than the 5-10 year warrantees everywhere else.)

Long story short, the matress was delivered for free with a $10 fee to get rid of my old matress set. And mom got a free painting out of the deal (no thanks to Captain Observant, here). All told, it ended up setting me back a hair over $550. That's just less than the tires are gonna cost that I still need to get for the Tahoe. Good thing I've been getting overtime the last couple weeks.

I slept quite peacefully last night with only one instance of waking before my alarm went off. That's most unusual for me as I usually wake up 2-3 times a night. I think this is gonna work out just fine.

Puma M92 .357 Mini-Review

As stated previously, I bought a Puma M92 in .357 mag (imported by LSI). That evening, Dick, L, and I took it out to T's to wring it out. What is the verdict?

This gun is a BLAST! Its light weight and short overall length (~33.5") make it easily the handiest rifle I own.

It fed FMJ truncated cone 38 spl. with no problems. Unfortunately, the only .357 we had on hand was some old Hydra-shock that Dick had lying around. We ran a few rounds of it through the gun, which seemed to be a bit finicky with this cartridge. The recoil, even with full house defensive .357 is negligible.

On the down side, the sights were difficult to see against any dark background and hit a few inches high at ~20-25 feet. In order to remedy this, I ordered a new front sight with brass bead and a Marble rear sight. What I didn't know is that Rossi seems to have decided to use a completely different dovetail for their sights than EVERYONE ELSE IN THE GUN INDUSTRY! Yeah, I'm a bit miffed about that. Usually lever-action rifles utilize a 3/8" dovetail for both the front and rear sight. A bit of searching turned up that Rossi's dovetails are slightly larger which I confirmed when the front sight slid all the way through the barrel dovetail.

At any rate, I've purchased a Williams FP-94/36 receiver peep sight. It should allow me to fairly easily adjust for changes between ammo types. Now I just need to get the receiver drilled and tapped for the sight. This sight should also make it easier to adjust for having a suppressor on the barrel. I'm seriously jonesing to have this thing set up for a suppressor, especially after seeing the job this guy did on a 44 spl. Uberti 1873. To use a slightly out-of-date pop culture phrase: "That's hot."

Right now, I'm still up in the air as to specifics on the idea but I'm pretty sure that I'm gonna have to get the mag tube set back slightly in addition to having the barrel threaded. And I don't know of any local gunsmiths who aren't just swamped who are capable of doing this kind of work.

I'm currently looking at these two suppressors: AWC's Titanium Abraxas and Yankee Hill Machine's Wraith QD combo.

The advantage to the Abraxas is size. It's only 5.7 inches in overall length and weighs in at 3.3 ounces. The Wraith's stats are 7.5 OAL and 5.8 ounces. I'm also curious as to whether the Abraxas will need to have the mag tube set back. In the picture on AWC's website, it appears that there is a stainless sleeve that threads onto the barrel that is significantly reduced in diameter compared to the suppressor body.

The Wraith's advantage is ability to remove the suppressor easily. This could come in handy on occasion but I'm not sure if it's worth having that crazy-looking flash suppressor on the end of the barrel when the suppressor isn't attached. The only real concern I have is that a suppressor might not be legal for hunting. I've given Arkansas' state hunting regulations a cursory glance and didn't see anything on the subject but I'm thinking it's probably not permitted. And even if it is, I'd probably have a hard time explaining that to a G&F officer.

Anyway, that's my short review and hazy future plans for this little carbine. I'll have a few more short reviews once I get in a few more of the items I have on order and get the Williams peep attached.

New Purchase Considerations

There are a couple of longarm purchases that I've been contemplating. I'd like to get some feedback on these.

The first is an H&R Synthetic Handi-Rifle in .357 mag. I've been looking at leveraction .357s to complement my GP-100 that I mentioned previously. These have generally been out of my price range (darned CAS shooters buying up all the good used leverguns) for what amounts to just a fun gun. Then I read an article (which requires registration, unfortunately) on an H&R Handi-Rifle that had been shortened to 16" and threaded for a 9mm suppressor. This seems like an ideal way to get into the NFA arena. The barrel should be fairly simple to get shortened/threaded and 9mm suppressors are almost a dime a dozen (well, not really, but you get the idea).

*edit: I wonder what it would take to have the barrel fluted? That's one thick hunk of metal and it shows in the weight.*

The second is the MechTech Carbine Conversion Unit, specifically chambered in 10mm to go along with my AutoOrdnance 10mm 1911 (and maybe my Para?). My AutoOrdnance still needs quite a bit of work to function reliably enough for carry. The CCU seems like it would address all of the issues I have with it at the moment (feeding trouble due to the GI-style feed ramp, no front sight, general sloppy fit). The CCU would give me a dedicated auto-loading carbine in 10mm for just under $600 investment.

Well, let me know what you think. All reasonable comments will be taken into account.

Wolff Rocks!

In the couple of weeks, I've replaced springs in both my Saiga S-308 and Ruger GP100 with Wolff springs. The Saiga got a new +15% recoil spring and just this evening the GP100 got a new reduced power hammer spring and trigger return spring. My fingers are still half numb from the effort of getting everything back into place on that revolver. I'm a little wary about whether I was able to get it reassembled correctly, but the cylinder locks up and the transfer bar works fine, so it shouldn't be too big of a problem if it's wrong. It already exhibits a much lighter trigger pull in double action. Unfortunately, the lighter pull makes the grittiness just that much more apparent. I still need to function test to make sure I'm not going to get light strikes.

The Saiga was a breeze to change out in comparison. It actually uses the same recoil spring as a standard AK rifle even though it's a 7.62x51. I was able to figure out how to go about removing the old spring and replacing it with just a moment's study. The simplicity of the AK design becomes more impressive to me each time I do new-to-me work on the rifle. I'm hoping the extra power spring will help to clear up some of the malfunctions I've had with it in the past. We'll see.

But no matter the outcome of my experimenting, the springs were well-fitted and of excellent quality, as usual. I highly recommend Wolff gunsprings.

New Motorcycle Stuff

Well, I just dropped quite a bit on accessories for my bike. There are two things that I've complained about on multiple occasions about my bike. The first is that I have to lean forward somewhat to reach the handlebars. It being a cruiser (2005 Honda VTX 1300C), it's meant for the rider to lean back while riding. Unfortunately, due to my height (an abnormal amount of which is in the torso) and my normalish arms, the standard setup just doesn't work. To that end, I've purchased a set of pull-back risers. These bring the standard bars back about 2.25". One of the guys at work installed a set of these on his back this past weekend, so I got the chance to take a look at it on Monday. It definitely changes the looks of the bike. I wasn't sure if I liked it at first. Then I sat down and gripped the bars. Now I don't care what it looks like. It's just too comfortable.

The second issue I've had is with the mirrors. I'm a big guy with broad shoulders and the standard mirror stems just don't cut it for looking directly behind me. If I want to check the lanes to either side, there's no problem. So, I've ordered a set of mirrors with tall stems that should work nicely.

Now I just need to save up enough to get a Mustang seat, driving light bar, and floorboards.

Edit: Oooh, and a bluetooth headset!