Everybody can chill out now...

Unavoidable Bacon Shortage is not real

 

h/t to Say Uncle

Photoshop work for The Feral Irishman

Pissed over at The Feral Irishman posted a link that needed some photoshop work

Since it might not be family friendly, more after the break

Peace, Love, Granola, and a stack of PMAGS

Save the Planet, Buy an AR

Hat Tip to Michael Bane for the link

Are Catholics going to riot and burn down the US Embassy now?

Historian Says Piece of Papyrus Refers to Jesus' Wife

No?  No outrage and and getting all shooty and murdery?

That was suprisingly easy

Sorry for the crappy pic.

People told me for years that building an AR lower was easy, and I never believed them. 

Turns out, it took less than an hour with a 4-year-old helping me... yep, I fully expect a call from his school when he tells the teacher he built a gun over the weekend.  Kinda looking forward to it.

I had almost none of the supposedly 'needed' tools, and it still went very well.  One small scratch from hammering in the roll pin on the bolt catch. 

Going to look at pistol uppers.  Still trying to decide on a 7.5 or a 10.5 inch barrel.  While I LOVE the idea of making it as small as possible, the slightly lower noise of the 10.5 and making it easier to suppress in the future might have me go for the 10.5.  Thoughts?

Happy Constitution Day

September 17, 1786- the day the U.S. Constitutional Convention signed the Constitution of the United States.

And the news from the weekend is that the US Government set out Brownshirted enforcers to knock on the door of a citizen and take him away for having the audacity to exercise his right to free speech.

226 years was not a bad run. 

Weekend- Hunting Prep and first Coyote hunt

Friday night, I drove down to 45er's compound so we could do some hunting season prep on the lease and try our hands at trying to call in some coyotes.

Friday night, we tried a couple of good beers.  45er had a couple that I'll let him intro, and I brought this  new-to-our-area brew:

Sixpoint 'Resin' Double IPA

If you like floral and very hopped IPAs, and you can get this in your area, try it.  I had tried Sixpoint's 'Sweet Action' cream ale on one of my all-too-frequest trips to New York, and was impressed.  This one lives up to the expectation.

Saturday morning, we went to stock up on corn for the feeders.

Needs sugar and a still.

In this area, hunting from blinds over feeders is the way to hunt.  Spot and stalk is almost impossible due to the terrain and local flora.  It's just too dense to sneak up on anything.  There are cleared areas that you can do it on, but the deer are VERY wary of getting in the open.  They stay in the dense cedar and scrub oak.

Ever wondered what 900lbs of corn in a truck bed looks like?

After we were done with clearing out the blinds, feeding the cows, we set up the game cameras.   I was pretty impressed that the Solar setup I had in my blind was still fully operational.  My brother had left his camera hooked up at his blind throughout the spring and summer.  Caught this cool pic:

pretty impressed the batteries lasted till June

Even though it was the middle of the day, 45er and I decided to camo up and try to call in some coyotes.

I took the new AR-10, and 45er took his old reliable Savage 110 in .243, which is scary accurate and has probably killed more deer than most people have ever seen.

A well armed shrubbery

'I don't see any either'

We tried a mix of recorded calls off of Varmint Al's website played through my phone hooked to a GoalZero speaker and 45er blowing on a wounded rabbit call.  The only thing we were able to call in was a very stupid whitetail doe.  If it had been the right season, there would be more bones added to the boneyard, and jerky in the smoker

So we got completely skunked on coyotes.  The only thing anyone caught was 45er caught a really good nap while I was running the calls.  Either there were no coyotes in the area, or we just suck at calling 'yotes.

It was good to be out of the city, out in the woods and just having a good time with guns out in nature.

EDIT:  Forgot to add this.  45er's dad decided to up the redneck skill at his blind, and added an automatic watering trough for the deer.  Check this out:

A huge water reservoir with a float valve filling up a torch cut water heater tank.  This is what ranch engineering is all about

Stay stupid, my friends

Seems like the Dos XX spokesman is campaigning for Obama

AR Pistol Update (Palmetto State Armory FAIL)

The box of parts was surprisingly waiting for me when I got home.

Not surprisingly, it had been crushed somewhere along the way.  Of EFFING course.  I think it's MORE surprising to get an intact box rather than one crushed or covered in BBQ sauce.

Sigh.

Anyway, I now have all the parts to build out my lower!

Springs and do-hickeys and stuff!

So where is the fail I mention in the title?  Well it's in pretty much every contact I had with Palmetto State Armory.  The only thing that went OK was the actual placing of the order.  After that... Well, here is the timeline:

Aug 30- order placed. Everything showed 'in stock' on website (Which is why I ordered with them, plus some recommendations from online sources)
Sept 5- Emailed for Status (6 days later, 4 business days)
Sept 7th- told order would be shipped (8 days, 6 business days)
Sept 8th- Order tracking info sent to me (9 days, 6 Business days)
  at this point, I found the tracking number not working on UPS website
Sept 10- Emailed with the problem with the UPS tracking Number  (11 Days, 7 business days) NO RESPONSE
Sept 11th- Emailed for help again (12 days, 8 business days)
Sept 12th- Tracking number finally starts showing status, and I get a response from PSA. And the response is just "Tracking number XXXX is out for delivery"

Now, let me open the kimono a bit.  I have spent all my life in customer service and customer facing roles.  I worked for a company for several years was known to announce things then go on massive indefinite backorders... even to the point of shipping ONE unit to say that they made shipping deadlines, then not ship anything for weeks more.  (As a matter of fact, that company just made a massive announcement today.)  I have worked for another company as it went down the tubes due to an idiotic merger and constantly dealt with angry customers looking for shipments.  I NEVER ignored emails just to see if the problem would solve itself.  Yes, I know that UPS can sometimes have a glitch that tracking numbers don't show up until they are delivered, and I also know you can go into UPS Quantum View and tell if it was the glitch or if the package was lost or never shipped.  TELL the worried customer what is going on.

What makes this a FAIL is the total lack of communication or service.  There was no 'I'm sorry your order did not ship for 6 days, here is a code for 1/2 off shipping on your next order"  or "It looks like your shipment is OK, and scheduled for delivery on the 12th!".  Just delays and silence.

Please do not excuse them because I only used email for contact.  They took my order online, they can give status and service online.  If you cannot handle electronic communication, take down your website and start mailing people catalogs.

Now, I have a lot of more parts to buy for this build and another bare receiver.  Can someone suggest a better company to use?

Edit: Palmetto State Armory replied to me via email:

           To clarify:

                    Your order was placed August 30th at 10:30PM which would make your first business day August 31st. Your order was shipped out on the 7th of September which was the 5th business day as we were closed for the Labor Day Holiday on September 3rd. We advertise that our current shipping time is 5 business days. I hope you have a good day sir.

To be fair, I did forget about the holiday on the 3rd.  They did beat the 5 day lead time on orders that I never saw on the website.  That is a bad one on me. 

Still no mention on the 2 day wait times on relies to customer service emails.

iPhone 5

dub dub dub... hot and saucy pizza girls dot....

I swear to god that is a screen shot straight from Apple's site.  Do they not know that "one handed typing" is a euphemism for a UNIX programer's love life?

Did I ever mention I have bad luck?

Oh, I think I may have mentioned it before.

I have had more of it going on in regards to the AR pistol project.  Nothing as dramatic as a train getting derailed like with the AK, but just loads of fun anyway.

More details after I get home and actually SEE if there is a package waiting for me.

11 Years later

It's 9/11/12.  Eleventh anniversary of the horrible atrocities of the WTC, Pentagon, and the incredible bravery and sacrifice on United Flight 93.

I just went back and read my remembrance from last year.  It still makes me sad.  Not just the loss of life in the attacks, but the ways in which the world has changed. 

Remember those that died today, in the attacks and in the war.  Remember the America that used to be, and lets work toward getting it back.

Brace yourselves

Did I leave toilet paper in the blind?

I am so not ready.  Just a little over a month before it's time to start whitetail hunting season here in Central Texas.  Too much stuff to do, and not enough weekends.

Arsenal or Stockpile?

Which media buzzword would this be considered?

Picked up my stripped receiver for the  the AR Pistol project (still looking for help from people who have done this before),  and decided to get another for the heck of it.

By the way, I like the finish on the Del-Ton lowers better than the one on my Bushmaster.

Unpossible! Robbed at gunpoint.. in a CHURCH... in DC?!?

That can't be true.  They have gun control there!

A gunman robbed someone at a church in northwest D.C. over the weekend.

Before 12:30 p.m. Saturday a gunman entered St. Stephen’s in the 1500 block of Newton Street, demanded money from the victim and ordered the victim to the ground, police said. The gunman went through the victim’s pockets, taking personal property including cash, a wallet and an iPhone.

Remember this when anyone asks why you would need a gun in church.  Because  criminals don't obey magical force fields. 

SIG X-Five Colors: I think I just threw up in my mouth a little

H/T to Guns Holsters and Gear

Oh.  Dear.  God.

Those is hideous.  I am just at a loss for words

As far as I can tell, that is NOT Photoshopped

Holy... That actually says "Black Nugget" on the slide.  Like something that should be flushed and forgotten.

Almost excusable.  Lose the high polish stainless and call it camo.

Check the site above for even more hideosity.

Mike Rowe is cool

Go read his open letter to Mitt Romney.  It is a great read, and one that every parent needs to read.

This country is short of people who would take up a wrench and do a job that needs to be done.  If we want to recover as a world powerhouse, we need people to keep the power running. 

Monster Hunter: Legion

Larry Corriea's uber-cool Monster Hunter series has it's 4th installment on the market this week.  I'm halfway through it, and it is as good as the previous ones so far.  Lotsa cool gun stuff, Monsters, fighting, weapons grade snark, and just a good read.

Go get a copy. 

Welcome and Thanks!

I just noticed I acquired two more followers.  Things have been so crazy around here the last two weeks that I am not 100% who the new guys are.  Please sound off in the comments and let me know who you are so I can welcome you properly.

Also- a general thank you to all of you that read my random wastes of electrons.  I've noticed that most of my posts as of late have just been random pictures... I don't want to break that trend, so here is "The Blue Ghost" CV-16- USS Lexington:

Sticker

I love Texas. This was on for sale at a normal gas station on the side of the highway