Author: azrifleman

Dealing with Obnoxious Reloads

I reload a few calibers, mostly .223 Rem and .30-06 (I’d like to start reloading 9mm and .45 ACP, but will probably need to get a progessive press to make it worth my time).
Recently, my .223 reloads have been giving me a bit of trouble. I’m shooting ex-military bullets from demilled ammo, and while they generally work fine, there’s a few that are out-of-round. It looks like the bullet-pulling machine mashed a bit of the bullet so it’s flat. The vendor, RVOW, ran them through a die so there’s no part of the bullet that sticks out beyond the expected radius, and that all the round parts are round, but there’s nothing they can do to un-mash the flat side.
These slightly-mashed bullets have a minor side effect: when placed in the seating/crimping die, the case neck is fitted to the bullet, which means that one side of the case neck is slightly flattened. When being chambered in my rifle, the case neck doesn’t fit all the way into the chamber, and so the bolt doesn’t go into battery. When fired, the bullets swage to the barrel properly, and fly as true as I’d expect ex-military bullets to fly. There’s no signs of increased pressure or other issues. Remember, these bullets are just slightly out of round; I’d never attempt to fire a seriously out-of-spec cartridge.
Fortunately, I found a few ways to work around this problem, and a few that don’t work:
If the bolt was not allowed to slam home, one can usually pull the charging handle and eject the offending round. However, if the bolt closed with a bit more force (like after firing the previous round), the cartridge is usually stuck quite firmly, and one cannot exert enough force on the charging handle to extract the round.
Smacking the forward assist isn’t always helpful either, as one can’t really exert enough force to force the round into the chamber.
What does work for me is to put a small bit of padding (so as not to scratch the forward assist; a soft rifle case usually works well) on the concrete bench, hold the rifle vertically, and bumping the forward assist soundly against the padding, thus applying enough force to chamber it. Firing the round seems to be the most effective (and most fun) method of extracting the cartridge.
Annoying, to be sure, but it’s not a big deal now that I’ve figured out how to deal with it. This is clearly “range ammo”, not “anti-zombie” or competition ammo. I’ll use better bullets for those purposes.

Tech Advice

I’m seeking a small, high-quality, wifi*-based webcam.
It must have the capability for live streaming access over the web (that is, I can access the camera remotely and see live views of its coverage area), and the capability for motion-based taking of photos/videos (can be either or both). Must be able to send motion-based taking of photos/videos to a remote location, such by email or FTP.
Why? I tend to be out of the apartment a lot. While the guns are secure in the safe, a potential thief would have little problem entering the apartment and having near-unlimited time to open the safe. If that occurs, I’d like some evidence to present to the police and/or my insurance company.
Any advice? I’ve been looking at these cameras, but they’re pricey.
* Must support WPA2-PSK with AES. WEP is absolutely out of the question.

Who watches the watchmen? These guys.

From Reason:

KopBusters rented a house in Odessa, Texas and began growing two small Christmas trees under a grow light similar to those used for growing marijuana. When faced with a suspected marijuana grow, the police usually use illegal FLIR cameras and/or lie on the search warrant affidavit claiming they have probable cause to raid the house. Instead of conducting a proper investigation which usually leads to no probable cause, the Kops lie on the affidavit claiming a confidential informant saw the plants and/or the police could smell marijuana coming from the suspected house.
The trap was set and less than 24 hours later, the Odessa narcotics unit raided the house only to find KopBuster?s attorney waiting under a system of complex gadgetry and spy cameras that streamed online to the KopBuster?s secret mobile office nearby.
The attorney was handcuffed and later released when eleven KopBuster detectives arrived with the media in tow to question the illegal raid. The police refused to give KopBusters the search warrant affidavit which is suspected to contain the lies regarding the probable cause.

There’s no excuse for the police’s behavior. I’m glad to see that someone is “watching the watchmen”, and hope these cops get slapped hard by a judge.

On Unexpected Knocks

When I first moved into this apartment, I’d open the door whenever anyone knocked. I never used the peephole. In retrospect, this was rather dumb, so I rapidly stopped doing it.
Instead, I’d observe the person at the door through the peephole, position my foot so as to stop the door from opening very far, then open the door far enough to stick my head out and speak with them. My thought was that if someone kicked the door, they’d be stopped by my foot. After thinking about this plan, I realized that I often don’t wear shoes in the apartment, and didn’t want to have my foot crushed if someone tried to kick the door in. Also, I could be surprised, jump, or otherwise move my foot, thus allowing the door to open.
My current plan is that I observe the person through the peephole, and if it’s an obvious “good guy” (my friends, my landlord, etc.), I’ll open the door with no problems. Otherwise, I ask (through the closed and locked door) if I can help them. If I don’t recognize them or if they’re a solicitor*, I politely indicate that they should leave. I find it much easier to dismiss them if I don’t need to make face-to-face contact with them.
If they refuse to leave, or become aggressive (which hasn’t happened yet, thankfully), there are less-polite courses of action, such as calling the police, or racking the shotgun. Since the door remains closed and locked, and they have no idea how many people are in the apartment or where they might be located, I remain in a strong defensive position.
I’m constantly surprised to see how few people use any sort of defensive strategy in their home: the solicitor that stopped by this evening (I politely declined their offer and asked them to leave, all without opening the door) moved on to my neighbor’s apartment, where his knocks were answered immediately by the neighbor opening the door. If the solicitor was, in fact, a robber or had other ill will, the neighbor would be completely unprepared.
Peepholes and door locks exist for a reason. Why people choose to ignore them when someone knocks at the door, I’ll never know.
If I had my own house, I’d probably put a small wi-fi based webcam outside (sheltered from the elements, of course) in a discreet location so I could have a wider field of view than the peephole provides — it would allow me to see if the person was alone or not, and allow me to view the entryway without actually standing right next to the door. An intercom might be handy as well.
* Tip: don’t go knocking on people’s doors after dark. You might also want to avoid the apartment complexes marked “no soliciting”.

Custom LEGO figures, with guns!

There’s a company that makes realistic* weapons for LEGO figures.
They even have a zombie pack.
Of course, the Brits are in full PSH mode over the fact that the company makes customized LEGO figures, including WWII-era SS officers, anti-tank crew, and a modern-day terrorist.
Some people have no sense of humor. Some people have no sense of awesome. The Sun has neither.
*Some artistic license had to be taken, but they’re still quite good.

Amatuer Blacksmithing

I can see why blacksmiths enjoyed their jobs: you get to drink beer, get metal really hot, and hit it with a hammer until it’s shaped how they want it.
(off-stage whispering)
What’s that? They didn’t get to drink beer on the job? Oh, hell. There goes that career path.
In related news, last night consisted of drinking beer around a fire, making s’mores, fanning the coals with large pieces of cardboard, heating rebar until it was red hot, and then hitting it with a hammer until it was bent about 80 degrees. Hardly the best example of blacksmithing, but it was very fun nonetheless. I think that forge-building may be in my near future.