Can a $100 rifle be any good?

I mentioned in this previous post the newest addition to my gun locker, a H&R Sportster in 17 HMR. I did get this rifle home last Saturday and I got it cleaned up and put away, awaiting a trip to the range to see how it shoots.

Today, I made that trip to the range... Does it shoot? You decide.



The target is 11 shots, from 60 feet, (all that's available at Impact Guns), using that same bag that is holding the rifle in the picture.

Why 11 rounds? That's an odd story. When I went into the range and got sat down to shoot, there was 1 live round sitting stuck in the corner of the barrier padding, a 17 HMR round, that somebody in front of me left behind. Now the odd thing is that this isn't the most common round to see and here was one left behind, in the very lane of the 12 possible, where I was setting up. Finding that left behind round seemed like some kind of message, so I shot it first.

So did it shoot? I'm mighty pleased! Recoil and report are negligible, as you might guess. Now I need to make some time to go find some prairie dogs to try this rifle on!

Here's a closeup of the target and a comparison of the 17HMR, in between a 22LR and a .223 round so you can see the diminutive size of this little hot shot.



Finally, the H&R wasn't the gun I took to the range today, (duh!) and I brought home a second target to show off. This picture is the result of several magazines through the Ruger P345 and my Beretta Neos. I'm not certain why I seem to pull one shot to the left on most of these groups but it seems a fault that will need much more practice to correct.

I shouldn't be to surprised really

Actually, I'm surprised it has taken this long for our .gov internet access to begin blocking all .blogspot.com addresses. I happened to see one report of it last night late from a blogger that works for the Interior Department. This morning, this system, and the network filters that I am behind, have implemented the block too. So I can post this gripe through my email but I can't go look and see if I spelled everything correctly.

What are they expecting us to do, increase productivity? It might be just about time for an internet air card for my laptop...

A drum roll please...

Today- an hour and a quarter of classroom lecture in Biology. Tomorrow, show up and take my final exam. That's my last time I need to show up in a classroom before receiving my degree. I do still have one more class, Cost Accounting, next term, that I will be accomplishing on my own time and as quickly as I can.

And then I'll be done.

I am so ready to be done.

A dandy productivity enhancer- Trebuchets!

Sure, I know you say you're busy but that's got to be a fib because you wouldn't be here if you really were busy. So, while you're goofing off, go try your hand at launching a trebuchet for distance, accuracy and power.

Its good fun!

Another phishing effort to watch out for-

This arrived in my email this afternoon. It looked pretty official and included a logo photo from the Internal Revenue Service.

After the last annual calculations of your fiscal activity we have determined that you are eligible to receive a tax refund of $79.80. Please submit the tax refund request and allow us 6-9 days in order to process it.

A refund can be delayed for a variety of reasons. For example submitting invalid records or applying after the deadline.

To access the form for your tax refund, please click here. [no link in this post.]

Regards,
Internal Revenue Service


© Copyright 2006, Internal Revenue Service U.S.A. All rights reserved..

I did click the link, which was obviously not from a .gov address, only to find a "Suspended Page" notification, so somebody's paying attention and blocking this privacy invasion attempt.

Just be on the look-out and don't be foolish by submitting your personal information where an unscrupulous thief [redundancy alert] can take advantage of you.

I have got to get to get a bigger ammo locker...

Yeah, I bought another rifle and its in a new caliber that I don't already stock in my ammo locker... I have been making gun buying decisions already based upon whether or not I was willing to add a new caliber to the shopping list but what's a guy to do when presented with a dandy varmit shooter for just a hundred bucks? Its a H&R Sportster™ 17 Hornady Magnum Rimfire, (scroll down the page a ways) and it already has a scope on it.

I'll get it home tomorrow as I was in a hurry to get home after work today and only stopped at the pawn shop for just a minute... Just one drink, you know... But the gun looks practically new though its been shot a few times at least as the barrel needs cleaned.

So tomorrow I'll go get the rifle and bring it home and I suppose while I'm out I'll hit Sportsman's Warehouse for a box or two of ammo. I guess I have to buy a new, skinny cleaning rod and another zippered rifle case now too!

Now I'm mad!

I mentioned earlier that I'm grinding coffee beans into measured quantities for the coffee bar here at work and so far, the response from the coffee drinkers has been very positive. Except that there is one person, who has decided to customize the quantity of grounds going into the basket... Twice today I've gone down there to find partial baggies sitting on the counter. The second time it was after I put a polite reminder on the storage box to just use one baggie per pot!

Crap! I've sent out an email to the folks that are regular members of the coffee fund but I guess I am going to have to send out a building-wide email after lunch asking folks to comply or carry a thermos jug. What a load of crap that some people think they have to be "special" or that simple rules of politeness don't apply to them. Its just dumbass!

Spark plugs cost how much?

Well, the truck's just 6 1/2 years old and its had its very first tune-up just yesterday. With 131,000 miles on the clock, the "Service Engine Soon" light flickered its pestering illumination for the very first time this week. I started to take the truck into Autozone, just to have them install their diagnostic machine and tell me what what was being reported as wrong but when I got there, right next door was a brand-new, shiny garage, called Honest-1 Auto Care. And I decided that since the place was convienient to the base, I would give them a try for my service work.

So I went in and met the owner, David Lloyd. He was friendly and seemed to know his business and I made an appointment- for yesterday. Seems the fuel filter, (the original) was causing a low fuel pressure fault that was identified and duly reported by the computer. My spark plugs, (also original) were beyond worn out according to David and so 10 shiny new platinum plugs were pressed into duty, retiring the old ones.

My truck was ready to go at the promised time and all the systems were working as promised. My wallet was lightened to the tune of $340 and I was on my way home in time for the BSU to get to her quilting class. I've found a shop that I can recommend for auto repairs and I'll go back there whenever the Ford needs attention.

Its Thursday Three Time!

And I'm a slacker for not having played over the previous couple weeks. But, here's my answers for this week.
1) What is your favorite color?
I'm partial to green as a favorite color, especially on cars and trucks and miniskirts on red-headed women.

2) Of all the items on the following list:
Raindrops on roses
Whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles
Warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
Cream colored ponies
Crisp apple strudels
Doorbells
Sleigh bells
Schnitzel with noodles
Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings
Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes
Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eye lashes
Silver white winters that melt into spring

My favorite item from this list? Whiskers on kittens, I suppose. I do love kittens and their trusting demeanor and unquenchable curiosity.

My least favorite item? Cream colored ponies! Ponies are ill-tempered, too big to let in the house and too small to saddle and ride. You can't litter train them and they don't look cute chasing a bright feather on a string like a kitten.

And finally,

3) What are three of your favorite memories from childhood?
Hmm, Terry was right, this does get harder… I always loved going to my grandparent's homes, Grandma Kate & Grampa Harry's house in Ohio and Grandma & Grandpa Manning's house in Michigan. I especially loved going during Christmas. Grandpa & Grandma Manning always seemed to have the biggest tree that just filled up their living room and there was always presents under the tree for each of us grandkids- my brothers and cousins that I only got to play with a couple times each year. Grandma Kate ran a pharmacy and always had a stack of the latest cartoons for us to read when we went for visits. She also had those stamped aluminum drinking cups with the flared lip and bright red, blue and green anodized colors. I always liked those cups.

My first slot car track was one of my favorite toys and a favorite memory. It was a Strombecker 1/32 scale set and my Dad built a permanent setup for the track that could be put against the wall when not in use. But it stayed down and played with for many, many hours. Some of those slot cars are still in a box in my basement!

My Dad used to take me to the gun shows on Sunday afternoons and the Hot Rod shows in the coliseum each year. It was always fun to go do something, just the two of us and I loved looking at all the neat hardware, no matter what type it was.

Japanese Man Recites First 100,000 Digits of Pi

How disfunctional must this guy be? And he is a mental health counselor, according to the story!

Akira Haraguchi, 60, needed more than 16 hours to recite the number to 100,000 decimal places, breaking his personal best of 83,431 digits set in 1995, his office said Wednesday.

First, how could this guy possibly have been paying attention to his patients/clients? Don't you suppose he must have been rehearsing for hours while his patients poured out their distresses and fears, thinking that this dope was listening intently to the problems? Second, who was there with the printout to confirm his accuracy? How do we know he got it right? How do you compute pi to 100,000 digits? How much computer power does that require?

People do the strangest things...

2nd Amendment Carnival- this is really good!

I've never visited this particular carnival before but I promise you that this is a good read. Check out the 5th Edition of the 2nd Amendment Carnival. Its a really interesting bit of reading, so take some time and enjoy.

Don't forget to check out the most recent Carnival of Cordite for more gun blogging goodness. Make sure to check out Cowboy Blob's link to this week's CoC, its a good one!

I started a business over the weekend-

I think I may call it Wasatch Custom Coffee Grinding. How's that for a name?

I'm still the guy that keeps the coffee bar running in our building. I've been able to buy good tasting coffee from Costco in individual bags that just needed to be torn open and dumped into a filter for several months. I had to drive past 2 Costcos to get to the 1 that carried the coffee, but I could get it- until 2 weeks ago.

I could get Folgers in premeasured packages, but its Folgers- it tastes like mud and its no financial bargain. All the coffee vendors in the area wanted more than twice the price I was paying for fewer bags of coffee.

So I bought a grinder and 2 bags of beans from Costco this weekend and 500 ziplock bags. I turned 6 pounds of coffee beans into 60, one & a half ounce bags of ground coffee. The coffee bar is paying me to provide coffee and I'm billing the group enough to pay for my grinder over the next few bags of beans. I'm certainly not going to get rich off this endeavor but if I could find a commercial sized grinder for cheap, I might try branching out beyond my building at work.

As if I didn't have enough things to do already...

Tonight's speech- How to Build a Potato Cannon!

That's right, tonight I'm giving a demonstration speech and my subject is "Playing WIth Your Food- or, How to Build a Potato Cannon. I have a new cannon all cut to size and an ignitor already epoxied into the combustion chamber. So tonight I'm going to explain what potato guns are, show how to assemble one and play a short video of a potato gun in action.

Our instructor really shouldn't let us pick our subject matter without some oversight! Anyway, it should be lots of fun.

This should screw things up for a few days-

The computer geeks just emailed- I'm on a list for a new computer, to be delivered and installed later today. I've already exported my Favorites list from Explorer but no doubt I'll be searching for stuff all week when its not where I expect it after the upgrade.

Another fine weekend-

Busy, as always, with school work. But taking time to have some fun too. Last night we had burgers and beer at the Shooting Star Saloon, a landmark here in the Wasatch Front. That was after a nice drive to see the leaf colors and a trip to Powder Mountain to see the progress on the fancy new high-speed quad lift being installed at Hidden Lake. Its going to be a dandy lift this winter!

In a few minutes, we are leaving to see the Barnum & Bailey circus in Salt Lake. We haven't been to a circus in years and the BSU said she would like to see it, so off we go!

I'm a pretty big fan of my adopted home town of Ogden, (you may have guessed that already) and this week I discovered a real prize at one of our local thrift stores. Its a hat... That's right, I bought a hat, for $1 with the "In 30 Zone" logo embroidered on the back. On the front is another embroidered picture proclaiming "Ogden Utah, Its All Within Reach." This is an effort from our current mayor but I can't find a picture of the embroidery right now. Anyway, I got a nice olive hat that proclaims my pride in Ogden for just a buck. Its a nice addition to mycollection of hats I wear every day.

Now its time to head for the circus!

I promised another scooter post-

Or it was a threat, depending on your interest, I suppose. Anyway, this one is good news. You might remember I ordered some new brake pads 2 weeks ago. I also ordered some lighter weight variator roller weights at the same time.

All these Chinese scooters have an automatic, belt-driven transmission controlled by variable width v-belt pulleys. The front set of pulley halves is driven by 6 roller weights that move out under centrifugul force and force the halves closer together, raising the gearing ratio. These roller weights are available in different weights and the transmission's activity is dependent upon having the right weight rollers installed.

Well, all summer, I've had 13 gram weights installed that came with the variator I purchased in the spring. It was the only set of rollers that I had, so I just used them. Those 13 gram rollers really caused the transmission to shift into higher ratios earlier than than than it should. My acceleration from a stop had a flat spot at about 5700 rpm that limited my speed.

So, last weekend, I put in some 10 gram rollers that came from PowerSportsFactory. My scooter is a rocketship now! Before, it would rev up to about 5700 rpm, then flatten out without any more rpm. Now, the engine revs to about 7700 rpm and the transmission's shifting is imperceptable. From 0 to 40, it must be 4-5 seconds faster and my speed on two big hills I climb every day has improved from a maximum of 45 mph to 50 mph.

The scooter is a bunch more fun to ride right now. I haven't fussed or worried about the too-heavy weights all summer, but I sure am glad I finally got it working better. Than 2500 rpm that I haven't used all summer are really appreciated now.

It has been beautiful scooter riding weather, if a little chilly in the morning as I mentioned previously. There's only a few more weeks left before the rains start, then it will be time to put it away for the winter.

Almost relaxed today-

I passed another goalpost this morning by briefing one of my programs and getting approval to get a new contract with Lockheed-Martin for the work I need done. The building where I work is in a easy-going mood today since there is a going away lunch for two guys that are retiring and another leaving for a different division. (That would be my government handler/boss.) There's a punch and cookie reception later for the two retirees and a bunch of visitors coming around to say good bye to these two. One of them, Lynn, is 83 and has been in government service since he was a radio operator on B-29 aircraft, bombing Germany on missions out of England. He's a neat guy and I'll miss working with him every day.

I passed my Biology quiz yesterday with 13 points out of 16. I'm just barely keeping an A in that class! Hoover Dam! My speech on restrictive gun ban laws and their effectivity really deserves its own post.

Its terrific scooter riding weather right now, with the exception of the 50 something degree temperatures on the way into work. There's good scooter news to report separately too.

Now it is time for me to head off to class.

Apparently Blogger is tanked-

You get what you pay for, I guess.

Tailgating

A man was being tailgated by a woman on Foothill Boulevard in Salt Lake City. Suddenly, the light turned yellow, just in front of him. He did the right thing, stopping at the crosswalk, even though he could have beaten the red light by accelerating through the intersection.

The tailgating woman slammed on the brakes and leaned on the horn. She opened her window, stuck her hand out and made a gesture, all the while screaming in frustration as she missed her chance to get through the intersection with him. As she was still in mid-rant, she heard a tap on her window and looked up into the face of a very serious police officer.

The officer ordered her to exit her car with her hands up. He took her to the police station where she was searched, fingerprinted, photographed, and placed in a cell. After a couple of hours, a policeman approached the cell and opened the door. She was escorted back to the booking desk where the arresting officer was waiting with her personal effects.

He said, "I'm very sorry for this mistake. You see, I pulled up behind your car while you were blowing your horn, flipping the guy off in front of you, and cussing a blue streak at him. I noticed the 'Choose The Right' license plate holder, the 'Families are Forever' bumper sticker, the 'Follow Me to Sunday School' bumper sticker, and the chrome-plated Angel Moroni emblem on the trunk.

Naturally, I assumed you had stolen the car."

It should be getting easier but it wasn't this weekend

Preparing speeches for my Public Speaking class, that's what I'm talking about. My next speech is tomorrow night and this time its got to be a persuasive speech. I started last weekend on a speech but I just couldn't get enthusiastic about the subject matter- seatbelt useage. I even worked on that subject about half of Saturday before deciding I just couldn't get an angle on the subject that I wanted. So, I ditched it and I've spent the rest of this weekend working on a speech about gun control...

Good grief I have struggled to limit this subject to just 5 to 7 minutes! There's a lot of information to research and then distill down into a cohesive and short speech but I think I've got something usable. I still need to create some charts but I'll try to manage that on company time tomorrow.

Now, I'm tired!