Internet’s out again.

Yep. Probably need a new modem. Whoo hoo. Maybe God is telling me to stop blogging, since my internet won’t stay up for more than five days at a stretch.

I bought a S&W 657-4 today, which is one of their Mountain Gun series revolvers, chambered in 41 Magnum. It’s pretty freakin nice, like all Smiths, of course. I can’t wait to shoot it here in about four months when I can start reloading again!

Math

It’s kind of embarassing how little math I remember from school. Granted, I never used more than basic algebra since 2002, but geez. At least it comes back fast.

I was never particularly hot on math in the sense that I sought it out for its own sake; I was never keen on many subjects like that. The only subjects I pursued for their own sake while I was in high school were writing and music, because I have a huge creative drive, even while I was exceptionally self critical and let that cripple my creativity (still do).

That said, I have great natural aptitude for math and science. That meant that I did very well in those classes simply because they came very easily to me and I barely had to study to ace the tests. I don’t think I ever did any studying for a final, and I still pulled As on them. Ah, the days of my wonderful memory! When did I lose that?

Maybe it seems like a cop-out, but I can see how having school come very easily to me undermined my discipline. I didn’t need to bust my ass to make sure I learned something, because I just got it. If I’d had to work harder, I probably wouldn’t have been so dysfunctional in college the first time.

As strange as it seems to me to be starting as a freshman at the age of 24, I’m glad I joined the military instead of staying in college, and I’m glad I can start over. Now, I have a solid idea where I want to go, rather than changing my mind every couple months like I was. Since I’m doing this on my own dime and I have a much greater appreciation for money after living independently for four years, I won’t do anything dumb like stop going to school in a fit of depression.

Another thing the Army gave me was experience in having to know stuff. That meant if I didn’t get it right away, I couldn’t just say aw fuck it, who cares, it’s just school… because it wasn’t school. It was important knowledge, and I had to know it, no excuses accepted for failure. If that meant disassembling a machinegun and putting it back together again fifty times until I had blisters and cuts on my hands, that’s what it meant, and that’s what I did. If it meant looking at the same data from different angles until it clicked, that’s what I did. I never did that until I joined the military. That would have been work!

Also, memorization by rote is a no go. You have to understand the information, and be able to explain or apply it. That applies to school in that instead of just memorizing a formula in physics or the technique for solving quadratic equations in math, I make sure I understand the underlying principles and all aspects of the specific technique or formula, and can apply it to other situations. That means really learning something, rather than just absorbing it long enough to pass a test.

Anyway, this is just stuff I’ve noticed since I picked up the math and science books again. I suppose the big difference now is that I care if understand the information. I just didn’t care before.

But crime only happens to bad people!

Last weekend the house I used to live, and still had a bunch of stuff at, was burgled. The whole place was ransacked, and at least $3000 of my stuff was stolen. I’m not certain what all is missing yet because I remember more and more stuff daily.

I made my police report, but the leaseholder apparently wasn’t interested in going to the house and seeing what stuff of his was stolen when I told him we needed to go do that, so fuck him. Pizza is more important than that, obviously. I don’t know what of his is gone. Probably nothing expensive because he has more debt than the rest of the fuckin platoon combined and he’s probably headed for jail anyway.

For the most part, I had gun stuff stolen. Now, obviously, I didn’t have any guns there. I’m not a retard. What I did have is a ton of reloading stuff, a little ammo, and my gunsmithing/parts/cleaning toolbox and a bunch of 1911 magazines. The magazines, toolbox, ammo, and a bunch of plain bullets were stolen, plus my very expensive Lyman powder trickler/scale. Fuckin dicks. A bunch of gun parts were stolen too–my Para Ordnance slide assembly is gone, plus all the parts I had in my toolbox.

I think it’s kinda funny that they stole eight 100 round boxes of Hornady 230gr XTP bullets, which were sealed and they probably thought were loaded ammunition. Oops! Morons. Of course, that’s a huge blow to me, because not only are those bullets worth a lot of money, but the market is bare and I can’t replace them now anyway! On the upside, I guess I can switch to Speer Gold Dots without waiting a few months to shoot up all my XTPs now…

The 1911 magazines also really piss me off. I mean, more than everything else. They represented sixty percent of my 1911 magazines, assuming my USGI mags weren’t there, and if they were, more like eighty percent. At the ever rising prices (up to $25 delivered each now!) I’m out like five hundred dollars there alone. Fuck.

Oh, and they stole two bottles of scotch! A full bottle of 12 year Glenlivet and a half bottle of 12 year Glenfiddich. I don’t drink anymore, but I was going to give them to people who do. Who steals a man’s scotch, anyway?

I’ll never see any of that stuff again. I live fifteen minutes from Juarez, Mexico. You know, the war zone that’s in the news every day with more dead civilians? I just made a police report because, well, that’s what you do.

For all you people who think nobody needs guns: What if I pulled up while the criminals were there? Think they would have greeted me with open arms? Pull your heads out of your asses. Crime happens to everyone. The people who aren’t prepared or ignore the possibility entirely are the ones you see on Channel 10 News with the weeping relatives.

STI Ranger

Since I was last regularly writing, I picked up a new carry pistol. Apparently Rock Island totally boned the barrel in my Officer 1911 from the factory, to the point where I would need a new barrel to get a proper throat and ramp job. That pistol was instantly relegated to practice only, sell if possible status. I’m sure someone I know wants a cheap, compact 1911 that only feeds ball ammo well.

The replacement I got is an STI Ranger. It is freakin sweet. I normally don’t go in for two tone pistols, but I figured I could bench my superficial preferences for this pistol. The STI Ranger isn’t made anymore. Flat top stainless slide with polished flats on a chopped blued steel frame, slim wood grips, Novak sights (not night sights). It’s basically the STI Guardian but with a grip shorter than even a regular Officer model.

As a carry pistol, this is almost perfect. I don’t have a proper holster for it yet. I’m using my Galco NSAII holster I bought for my full size 1911s, which is fine, except obviously an inch long. I’m not going to get another NSAII. I want something with two belt clips instead of one, because the NSAII tends to tip and can foul the draw. It worked great 95% of the time until now, but it’s time for something new. I’m thinking about ordering a Tucker Texas Heritage IWB holster.

The Ranger shoots very well. I had some feeding problems with my carry ammo and the magazines, as with the shape of the bullet (Hornady XTP) the seating length seems to be very slightly too long, and the cartridges weren’t moving smoothly through the magazines. However, that’s easily rectified, and the pistol fed well from the full size magazines I brought.

I have not shot it for a group yet. I was hitting a bowling ball at about 15 yards every time, though, and I managed to hit hand size steel plates with single shots at about ten yards and took three shots to nail a full beer bottle at 12 yards, which exploded spectacularly after sitting in the sun all morning. I’d say I did well enough for a pistol I’ve only got a hundred rounds through.

It’s rough on the hand, because the sharp corner at the rear of the butt digs into my palm, and my right hand was sore after about a hundred rounds of full power 45 ACP. It’s a carry pistol, though, so who cares? It didn’t bother me as much as a regular 357 Magnum except for the sore spot from the grip corner, just made my hand a little achy.

One minor issue I have with the pistol is for some reason the slide release is a huge pain in the ass to put back in, since the plunger pin gets stuck in the slide notch on the release. I have to depress the pin with a needle or wire to get the thing all the way in. None of the 1911s I’ve handled ever had that problem, and I’ve owned nine different 1911s now, let alone the others I’ve field stripped since I started shooting. Weird.

I’m happy. I’m even happier since I found out it’s a steel frame–both the gun shop guy and I thought it was aluminum. Now I don’t have to worry about gouging the feed ramp with my 8rd Chip McCormick mags and it should last forever! Sweet. Now for an aluminum trigger and night sights…

What a week

I can’t believe it’s Friday morning. It alternately feels like only about Wednesday, or frickin March. I was awake practically the entire week. First I got really sick monday night, which I mentioned, except that was just phase one and it ended up lasting into Wednesday–when I was told at 0945 AM that I had staff duty, 45 minutes after it started, sick as hell, no sleep except a few minutes at a time since Monday… it was awesome being awake another 24 hours.

Then, instead of being able to sleep yesterday morning when staff duty was over, I had a mandatory, time sensitive medical board briefing that took until one in the afternoon. By the time I got back here I could hardly stagger in a straight line, no joke. It took every ounce of my driving skill not to fucking crash; I felt like I was very drunk. I don’t know exactly how long I was awake straight but it was a personal record, that’s for sure.

I was supposed to notify my chain of command of my med board status yesterday, but by 1345 I still couldn’t find anyone to give the paperwork to, and I was way out on the ragged edge, so I just said fuck it and went to sleep. I’m pretty sure these are extenuating circumstances. They can have the paperwork this morning.

What really amazes me is that I only slept about nine hours after being awake so long. I feel fine now, though my appetite is pretty low, and I noticeably slimmed down since Monday. I barely ate for three days, and I probably purged most of the water my body was retaining and cleared out my entire digestive tract in that time.

I’m going to be pretty uncooperative if anyone wants me to do anything at all today. I’ve got tons of shit to get done that I’ve needed to do since the weekend, like fix my bank situation, get my Jeep inspected, do laundry, and make a fucking police report. Also I have to go track down some of my physical paperwork for my med board, make appointments, and work out twice. Once that paperwork I owe my chain of command is turned in, the phone is turning off, and I’m not going to be found until Monday.

Just say no…

…to Pizza Hut.

Not only do they have ridiculous firearms policies, firing their employees for defending themselves on the job, but they keep making me sick!

I just spent two and a half hours in the bathroom. Not cool. I haven’t been this gastronomically distressed since I ate bad beef jerky in Iraq. Well… that lasted three days. This doesn’t compare but it still sucked.

I haven’t had beef jerky since then, and I think pizza just walked off my list of favored foods.

Oh, yeah, I finally have internet again.