Two things I think I need

I was goofing off on Atlantic Firearms website and saw that Slidefire Solutions now has an AK-47 bumpfire stock set.  Well, lookie there... That looks like a GREAT way of turning money into sound. 

Oooohh... and it works on the SAIGA 12!  Look at how that guy gets beat to hell on a 20 round drum!

Yep.  I need one of these.  I could swap it between the WASR and the SAIGA as needed....

But the ultimate would be the Mini Draco and a $200 SBR tax stamp to put them together.

I think that would make one heck of an attention getter at the range. 

Booger Hook/ Bang Switch, Christmas Edition

Sumdood gets a Glock under the tree. Sumdood is surprised that the gun functions correctly and fires when the trigger is pulled.  Sumdood's uncle now has an extra hole in his leg.

H/T to The Gun Wire

Merry Christmas!

Time for the traditional bacon and bourbon feast!

Dear Santa...

Just in case I'm on the 'Nice' list, please add this to my request file:

DPMS Panther 7.62Nato Oracle

I know it's last minute, and I don't want to be greedy, but one of those and a Leupold VX-11 3-9x40 scope and rings would be awesome under the tree.

Thanks!

Lack of Content....

Sorry I have been so light on content lately.  Crazy time at work, the holidays, and the dumb idea I have every year of making gifts by hand has really ate into my free time.

Expect more content... later.  Hopefully about guns or food.  Maybe beer/ distilled spirits. 

In the mean time, I have the wild hair to bust out the cutting torch and welder and build a "Rocket Stove".  Not that I NEED one, but that I think they are cool.  Here are some links to research:
Rocket Stove
Building one
Grover Rocket Stove
Deadwood Stove

...you would even say it glows.

Oak Ridge's 2011 deer harvest: 321 taken (3 too hot to take home)

Like a Light Bulb!

(H/T Gun Pundit, via Instapundit)

Experiments in Asian food

A few days ago, I went "tourist" at the local Asian market .  I had a guide- a co-worker that is Asian, and from Vancouver, which from what I understand is a mecca for awesome Asian food in North America.  I love going to the market and finding new foods and ingredients that I have never seen or even heard of before.

So, while I was wandering about, I saw something that caught my eye.
"Rice Cake Sticks?  What are these?"

If you can't read the package, it's authentic!

"Those are great.  One of my favorite Korean foods.  Cooked in soup or fried.  Good stuff."

Well, that's all the endorsement I needed.  I picked up a package and a few other ingredients that I hope will be featured in a future post.

So, I did some research, and found some cool recipes .  I decided to go with the fried version, and I'll do the boiled/ soup version sometime later.  Before I started cooking, I tried one raw.  Don't do this.  It is hard, bland and plastic-y.  Made me worry that this was going to taste like... well, cooked bland plastic.

So, I got some oil hot in the pan, washed the starch off the sticks and threw them in the pan.

mmmmm... packing peanuts

While these were working, I did a fridge dump of a bunch of ingredients.

...and started whipping up sauces.

Spicy red sauce.  I took no measurements, just eyeball it.

I shall call this sauce... 'brown.'

By now the rice cakes were developing some color.

Which is a good thing.  It was starting to look like a Michael Bolton concert.

I tried one straight from the pan, and was VERY suprised.  Besides it being really freaking hot, they were suprisingly good!  Crispy on the outside, and fluffy and creamy on the inside.  It was time to plate and few of these up.

If you get a chance to play with these, do it.  They are worth it.  Much like Asian Gnocchi- they take the flavor of what you put on them.  Very filling as well.

Now it was time to enjoy a beverage...

Back to the experiments.

A while ago, my same co-worker told me how "Special Fried Rice" was made using a chinese dried sausage that would be diced and boiled with the rice as it was being prepared.  So I took that idea and twisted it a bit.

'Sweet' rice and dried venison sausage.

Diced the sausage, and then added to the rice as I prepared it according to the package instructions.

Now... what to do?

Did someone say 'Sticky Rice Fried Venison Balls?'  No?

They were really tasty, but a cast iron bitch to make.  The rice stuck to everything even after frying.  I doubt I will do these again... maybe with a different rice.  Maybe just as an actual fried rice.

Conclusion?  Step out of the comfort zone.  Play with some new ingredients.  Have fun.

Hunting report

Spent all day hunting, and all I got was soaking wet.

Not that I'm complaining- we need the rain.  I mean we REALLY need the rain.  Remember, just 2 months ago, central Texas was on fire.

Saw a few deer, most were not ones I wanted to shoot, one that I did, but he never gave me a shot.  Oh well.  It was still a day in the woods.

However, 45er whacked two feral pigs.  I'll try to get some pictures up later when I am not dog tired.

Gun Porn! Something rarely seen.

Artistic pictures of a complete piece of crap.

Behold the glory that is the Jennings J-22.  A single stack, striker fired, single action .22LR pistol made of pot metal, some springs, and radio-age plastics.  This is the epitome of what the racist Democrats call a 'Saturday Night Special.'

This... well, there's not much you can do with it.

I bought this back in the early '90s at an Austin gun shop for probably $90.  Maybe $75.  It was junk then, and is junk now.  The safety is small and impossible to use, the trigger is tough and gritty, sights are miniscule, and the finish is ugly and obviously fragile from the scratches and dings.  But what it lacks in refinement, it makes up with lack of reliability.  This was fired for the last time probably back in '95 or '96.  The last round ever through it's barrel fired in what is called a 'Slam-fire.'  The gun fired as the first round was chambered from the magazine.  When it did that, it was thrown in a range bag and forgotten.  

That's more like it... jammed.

So, why do I still have this thing?  Because it is junk and dangerous.  I cannot risk someone buying it and hurting themselves as it slam-fires again... or God forbid someone wants to trust thier lives to it.  So, it sits in my safe.  The only thing I can hope for is that there will be some dumb-ass, misnamed "Gun Buy-Back" program that I can get $100 for it (and since we have an idiot Californian as a police chief now- that could actually happen.

Hope you enjoy the pics!

Seriously, it was an honor just to be nominated

I don't know how it happened, but I somehow was named Blog of the Week over at Standing Outside Looking In.  I am honored, and surprised by the people who read these ramblings- I mean, I started this blog basically as a place for me to warehouse my links so I would not have them on my work computer.  Thank you very much, Stephen! 

...and I have added you to my links.  Sorry for the oversight.

From the Asian market

Pork me?!? No, pork Fu!

Need to post some content- Place your votes!

So, things have been stagnant with the holidays, work travels, hunting season, blah, blah, blah.... all the real world stuff that interferes with the "I'm kinda a big deal... online." stuff.

Since Gun Porn seems to always drive traffic, I'll do that.   What would you like to see?  Hunting rifles? Carbines? Handguns? Weird stuff? 

Vote in the comments!

USPS- Dumb decisions made in record time!

The big news story today is that the United States Postal Service- a grand old tax vampire with a storied history of blunders and idiocy- has decided to cut service and employees in an attempt to stay solvent.

So, here seems to be the thought process:
"We are getting our asses handed to us by a cheap and instantaneous service (email, text, etc...) for interpersonal communication, while getting completely dominated in the package delivery arena by inexpensive, fast and reliable service providers (FedEx,UPS, etc..).  What we need to do is make our service SLOWER and LESS RELIABLE!!!"

Seriously.  This is the line of thought of Government Service.  When getting completely destroyed in the open market by services faster, cheaper, and more reliable- make your service slower and less reliable while keeping prices the same.

Remember this when someone starts talking about Government controlled healthcare.  It will be slower, less reliable, and have that award winning customer service attitude that comes from not having your pay tied to performance.

I need a drink.

Seriously, WTF?!?

Uhhh... WTF?

First fire of the season

That Boy and That Dog enjoying the first fire of the season

I let 'em live

They got lucky

Illustrating the Occupocolypse

linked from mthruf.files.wordpress.com

Perfect example of how the OWS morons think.  They think everything should be GI Joe cartoons, mac and cheese and PB&J with the crusts cut off. 

We grew up, got a job, and busted our asses to provide for our families, they are worried what a 12 year old would think of them for doing well.

Now get off my lawn, you damn kids!

Interesting day yesterday

First, I saw over at Guns, Holsters and Gear that CZ is now offering the P-07 Duty with an extended, threaded barrel and tall sights for Suppressor use.  I am looking forward to buying those parts and retrofitting my Duty.  Cue 'happy dance'.

Next, I took the CZ 527 Carbine to the range to sight it in, test the set trigger, and see if I could get decent groups with the heavyweight ammo and the new scope.  I got it to hunting shape, but there are still some disturbing flyers that makes me think that this ammo is just not built with enough care to make a really accurate round.  But all the other factory hunting rounds are lighter bullets that don't group worth a darn from that rifle.  the 154gr will put MOST of them in a 1.25" group... but there will be a round every once in a while that jumps out another inch.  So I guess I'm going to have to get some of the Sierra 150Gr .311 bullets and start loading.  I HATE load development- It means buying a BUNCH of powder just to find out it's not what I need.  If anyone knows of a heavy factory load for the 7.62x39 with a soft point, please put it in the comments.  Or a suggested load... or anything to help me out.

While at the range, MI2Tall had his new carry gun.  That Kahr PM45 is a nice little blaster.  I got to fire 2 mags through it and really like it.  I have been a fan of Kahr for a long time, and own a Kahr MK9.  Nice to shoot that new gun, and it reinforces my need to get a CW45 sometime soon.

Things kids say

From Sunday afternoon:

The Kid (to me and The Wife): "Hey everyone, I'm in my rocket ship!"
I look over and see he has his beanbag chair on top of the chair-and-a-half in the corner.
Me: "Great!  Where are you going?"
The Kid: "Nowhere.  I'm just getting away from you two."

Fifteen years 'till you are on your own, kiddo.  Start planning now.

I know it's a school night...

But I'm still having a nice Cabernet from a jelly jar while giving the kiddo a bath

Pan Seared Venison Tenderloin Bruschetta

Been a while since have done a food post.  I apologize up front for the low quality pics- very low light in the kitchen when I was cooking.

Last night I thawed out some venison tenderloin and some Jalapeno/ Cheese sausage for a hunting season Tapas menu.

Started with the 'salad'- a mix of cherry tomatoes, Cippolini onions, minced garlic, and diced jalapeno.  Mixed in with some salt, pepper, olive oil, and seasoned rice vinegar.  No measurements were taken since I just kinda whipped this up on the fly.

Once the salad was marinading, I seasoned up the tenderloins and got the pan hot with a bit of olive oil.
The seasoning for the tenderloins was salt, pepper, onion powder and garlic powder

Then in the pan to crust up the meat.  Rolled them a few times to get an even sear.

...then out of the pan to rest

While the tenderloin rested I cut and toasted a baguette.  I sliced the tenderloin thin and then did a quick sear on the slices to finish the meat and develop some more flavor.

Assembly was simple.  Toast, tenderloin, and a small pile of the salad on top.  This was just outstanding.  Very tasty use of the best morsels of meat off of the deer.  Now, I just need to go get a few more deer so I can make this more often.

I think the technical tern is 'nummy'

Since I cooked the sausage, and had a good amount of the salad left, I baked off some won ton wrappers as cup (oil them and put in a muffin tin and cook till 'done'), put a slice of the Jalapeno/ cheese sausage in the bottom and a spoonful of the salad on top.

This seemed like a really good idea, till it was done.  The won ton wrappers came out way to crunchy, and  overpowered all the textures of the rest of the dish.  Next time, it will be pastry cups or phylo dough.

By this point I was a few beers in, and getting tired.  So instead of making one or two more tapas, we gave up and watched the movie.

Yay for CZ! Clear instructions are important.

CZ-USA News and Views: The CZ Single Set Trigger System

As an unabashed CZ fan, this makes me very happy. I bought a CZ-527 Carbine in 7.62x39 YEARS ago. I knew it came with an adjustable set trigger, but had no idea how to adjust it. So I called CZ, and they sent me a manual.

The manual as less than stellar in describing how to actually USE the set trigger. Now they have posted clear and concise instructions on their blog. This makes me VERY happy. This has also set my activity for tonight. I am adjusting the trigger on my CZ!

Popping the Carry Cherry

MI2Tall got his CHL and carried for the first time this weekend.  Newsflash!  Nothing happened.

Deer on the ground

Now the hard work begins

Zombies

I keep hearing people on "teh intarwebz" saying that the Zombie meme has jumped the shark.  That it was only cool to shoot zombie targets back when no one else was doing it.

Unpopular is sooooo cool.

Sigh.  I thought everyone understood why zombies were a good training tool.  It is a very politically correct thing to target.  A humanoid target that is already dead, so you aren't being cruel.  It has no race, nationality, or creed associated (Anyone remember when the TxDPS had to change from black silhouette targets to blue?).  You are able to train on drawing, transitioning between carbine and handgun, with multiple small targets, while shooting on the move.

You can do this while having the appearance of just having fun.  You are just a goofy horror movie fan living out a Walter Mitty-esqe fantasy.

Because it would really freak people out if you were training to hit Blue Helmets.

Do your duty!

Opening weekend After Action Report

No deer in the freezer.... well, no NEW deer in the freezer.  There are still the remnants of a few of the ones from last year.  Which is one of the reasons I am being picky this year.

You probably noticed a few deer in the pic I posted Saturday morning.  We (45er, my brother, and 45er's dad) are being picky this year when deciding which deer to take.  We are over-run with bucks again this year, so we are trying to shoot the undesirable bucks, and a doe or two.  We are planning the 'hit list' off of reliable intel off of the game cameras that we have set up on multiple feeders.  We have even gotten to the point of naming the deer (best name: Perv.  But there are other ones like Crabclaw, Unicorn, Horseface, etc...) so we can plan the ones to cull to make our herd better and stronger.  Whitetail Eugenics, I guess.

So, as it is, I let everything live.  I don't NEED the meat right now, and since the only one on the hit list that came into my feeder (3 point buck that we call Crabclaw), got spooked by the feeder and went plaid before he gave me a shot... So I came home with just memories of a fun time spent in the woods with good friends.

EDIT- Ok, there was ONE kill I made.  Right as we were about to call it, and leave on Sunday.  A Squirrel decided it was going to climb the feeder leg and screw with my feeder.  Since the squirrels and raccoons have been really messing with the feeders this year, that was when he signed his own death warrant.  A 150Gr Remington Core-Locked in a .308 will do a number to a squirrel.  FYI.

Opening day

But soft, what animal by yonder feeder stay? Tis the venison, and deer is it's form.

Blogroll Addition

I just added "Stuff from Hsoi".  Seems like a cool blog from another Libertarian/ gun nut stranded in Austin (San Fran on the Colorado). 

It's worth a click.  Check it out.

Music for Halloween

Ignore the cut scenes from "Back to School" and enjoy the oddness that is Oingo Boingo

Today's Halloween Protip

Chuck a Roto-Zip Multi-purpose cutting bit into your cordless drill.  Use that to carve your pumpkin.

Layout of a Jack-o-lantern is also aided by drawing the design with a dry erase marker. 

Save these tips for next year.

Stay Shooty, My Friends.

Kevin over at Misfires and Light Strikes posted something funny this morning.  As an unabashed CZ fan, I think you should go check it out:

The Most Interesting Gun in The World

I laughed.

Vote for Me!

Larry Correia has the voting open for the Monster Hunter patch contest.  Here are the 3 collaborations I did with 45er over at Barrel Smoke:

First:
An MHI Team based in the Texas Hill Country.  Populated with former technology and dot-com employees:

Keeping the 'feel' of the original MHI patch

Second:
A competing company that specializes in Zombies... and supplements the PUFF income and training by killing feral hogs:

Can I get a 'yee-haw!'

And my 3rd, and favorite, submission:
The Texas Unnatural Guard.  Part of the Texas Military Forces.  They draw from the Texas National Guard, Texas Air National Guard, and Texas Naval Forces (you did know that Texas has it's own Army, Air Force, and Navy, right?) to protect Texas from monsters and the undead.  The only Govt agency that allows agents to keep a small percentage of the PUFF Bounty:

Please- Vote Early, Vote Often!

I'm back... ish

Been away for a week of shooting, woodsbumming, cooking and drinking. I'm tired, sore, and not ready to be back in the real world. I'll post pics later.

Looks like I gained a couple of followers. Welcome everyone! Great to have you, and I promise to have more content later this week. Now, the real world calls me to do 'work'

Nightmare fodder

First Car Meme

Another meme is running about the gunblogosphere:

So here's the meme. Long answers or short.
1. What was your first car? Model, year, color, condition?
2. What adventures did you have in it, good or bad?
3. What happened to it, what's the end of the story?

My first car was a doozie.  A 1976 Ford LTD with a 400 Cubic Inch V8.  It was bananna yellow with a poop brown vinyl top.  It looked a whole heck of a lot like this:

Does this have "Chick Magnet" written all over it?  No.  No it doesn't.

 I bought it for a dollar.  Seriously.  It was in pretty good shape, but the previous owner had Alzheimer's, and kept showing up with more mystery dents in the car.  So her family sold it to a 16 year old  who needed a cheap car for a buck.

It was affectionately named  "The Banana Boat".  It was hard to love a car like that, but I had a LOT of respect for it's size, power, and carrying capacity.  It did just about everything:

• I had 12 people in it at one time.  

• I got it over 120MPH several times.

• I put about 17 alternators into it, and carried a spare in the trunk with tools and could swap an alternator on the side of the road in 15 minutes.    

• It ate electrical components like candy. 

• It did a pretty good job off road, and would climb hills like no one's business.  

• The trunk would fit a keg in it, standing up (no tap), with ice around it.  

• All this while getting a grand total of EIGHT miles per gallon. 

This car did a lot of service to my family.  After I got my next car (1983 Toyota Tercel), my older brother started driving this car.  I saw him lose control in it, slide off the road, run through 2 fences, a two stone mailboxes, and a low rock wall.  The car kept on driving with only minor cosmetic damage.  Shortly afterwards, a piece of foil was dropped into the oil, and the engine started losing compression.  It was sold to someone else who used it for parts, and the last I saw it, it was under a tree on the side of the road in Johnson City, Texas.

Rest well, Banana Boat.  You deserve it.

Range Report- So THAT'S what a high end gun gets you.

Back in the country for just a shade over 24 hours, and I get myself to a shooting range.  THAT is a 'Projectile Enthusiast' for you!

I took my new STI to the range for lunch and blew a hundred rounds through it.  Just starting the initial break in.

Every bench on the range has bullet strikes on it.  Scary.

So I load up the only mag I have, run the target out to 7ish yards and start banging away.

Not bad.  Hitting a little low.

I try a mag of headshots

You can see what having a defined aiming point does for you.

I let the range guy run a few rounds through it (he aims at the logo to the side), then I run the rest of the box center of mass.

That is a full fifty rounds, off hand using a two hand hold- in the middle is a 37 round one hole group.  I am an OK pistol shot, but this was just unreal.  Recoil is negligible, it points like a laser, operates like silk on glass, and is scary accurate.

I like it.

Edit- Let me expand here.

It is 2011.  I needed to be a good little gun nut, and buy a 1911.  It's not like we need a reason to get a new gun- but that was an actual reason!  After an exhaustive search of options, I decided to go with STI.  For several reasons including reputation, service, quality, and that little Texas on the side of the slide tipped it over the edge.  I went with 9mm to keep ammo costs down, and... well, I did not have a 9mm 1911.  I have a MilSpec 1911, and a custom carry 1911, now I have a 9mm.


The build quality on this is simply superb.  The slide runs on it's rails like nothing I have ever felt.  Sights are crisp and clean, and the controls all work the way you want them to- except one thing.  There is not a crisp 'click!' that I am used to when engaging the safety.  It locks in place, but I'm just used to a click.


STI, and the Ranger II, get a big thumbs up from me.  Granted, I only have 100 rounds through it so far.  However, I am giving this a big thumbs up.

Wha... wait, what? Content?

Just got back into the US last night.  Been gone on a vacation.  Had a blast, got a sunburn. 

I'd post more, but now I am so busy catching up that I don't have time.  In the meantime, I'll leave you with this:

Plus, I'm pretty sure one of them stopped taking his meds.

out of pocket for a few days

I'll have a cool post to tell more later.

Fresh Bacon

45er just sent me a pic from under his feeder on our hunting lease.

I'll name that one Bacon, that one Sausage, that one Applewood Smoked...

I gotta get the Saiga sighted in for slugs. 

Running low...

Proud

Yesterday, my wife's CHL came in the mail.

I am so very proud of my family :)

Combined Gun Porn Post-

Friday was a REALLY good gun day for me.  You may have seen my previous posts about my "1911 in 2011" gun finally coming in.  I know, I was pretty subdued about it, and all...

Also, the last major part of my Saiga came in, and I was able to mount up all the little parts and get it ready to defend the Food Court.

So here is the porn!

STI:

Saiga 12:

Die, Rocks!