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Saturday, March 25, 2017

That Figures

I always suspected the Fed Gov, especially all the bureaucrats, were corrupt.  Seems that every time I turn on the national news, my suspicion is confirmed.

It's time to fire them all.  Maybe Trump will succeed in 'draining the swamp' despite a road block at every turn from the same career politicians and bureaucrats.  We're in a civil war that has yet to get very violent.  Let's hope it never does.

Itchy Finger

My itchy trigger finger got the best of me this morning, so I packed a few things and headed to the range.  Four handguns and the 454 lever action.  Got the red dot sighted lever gun zeroed about 2 inches high at 100 yards with 240Gr Hornady XTP HP bullets in front of 33 grains of AA#9.  That's one of the loads I worked up for the Ruger Super Redhawk.  From the Ruger it chronographs at 1800F/S.  From the lever action it runs at 2140F/S and groups at about 2-1/2 inches at 100 yards.  Not exactly tack driving accuracy, but not all that awful from a lever action with a red dot sight shooting ammunition developed for a revolver.

The other 454 load I developed for the revolver runs a 300Gr XTP at 1600F/S using H110 powder.  I didn't chronograph it out of the lever action, nor shoot groups with that ammunition.  With the revolver, the 2 loads print close enough for practical purposes out to about 75 yards or so.  Not so with the long gun.  At 100 yards it hit what I estimate to be 2 feet lower.  I expected it to shoot lower, but not that much.

Wanting to use the same ammunition in both guns, I'll most likely stick to the 240Gr load.

And about the handguns I brought.  They never left the case, despite my needing the practice.  I was having too much fun with the lever action.

Thursday, March 23, 2017

Seriously

I have a friend who has worked as an IT guy for many years.  And for many years I've accused him and his fellows of creating their own work.  Every time they mess with something, they create another something to be fixed later.  I've joked with mechanics about doing the same thing.

This is no joke.  Completely serious.  Every time government supposedly fixes something that mostly doesn't need fixing, it creates even more stuff to fix.  Several years ago a co-worker complained about gridlock.  I never complained.  If they do absolutely nothing, then nothing gets screwed up.  I would be happy if government only protected the country and nothing else.  Today they're doing just the opposite.

Sunday, March 19, 2017

Riding Today

Well today I got my horse through the open field.  She was nervous the whole way, but we made it.  Got on a trail through the woods and came upon a fallen tree, a small tree.  It was only about 10 inches tall, but she refused to step over it.

Heading back out, she got spooky again.  I did learn something though.  She goes ballistic after I get into her mouth a bit to slow her down.  So I got looking at her bridle.  The curb chain is too loose.  The shank will rotate 90 degrees before the curb chain takes effect, allowing the bit to pinch, and in this case squeeze down on her tongue.  The other bit I used would gouge the roof of her mouth.  So as long as she's relaxed, and I'm not putting pressure on the reins, she behaves great.  If I need to correct her very much, she goes nuts.

So I plan to work her in the pasture with the curb chain adjusted tighter, and if that doesn't improve things, then I'll switch to a solid shank bit.

Thursday, March 16, 2017

Flash Back

Been designing a specialized drive system at work the past few weeks.  A single motor driving a right angle reducer into a special gear box, then 2 drive shafts driving 2 more special set of gears.  Each of the special gear boxes drives a timing belt.  The intent is to rotate 3 ACME screws at the same speed and direction. 

Naturally I'm dealing with limited space and other than 90 degree turns, that's why the special gear boxes.

It's been maybe 20 years since I did any gearing.  Thankfully some of it has come back into my old mind.

One of the best things about my present employment, is the variety.  Despite that, I've been looking forward to retirement lately.  There's a lot of things I want to be doing other than going to work 5 days a week.

Short Ride

The Boss and I went for a short ride Sunday.  It was very short because her horse refused to go through a mud hole on the trail, and mine refused to cross an open field.  Other than that it was nice to ride.

Thursday, March 2, 2017

Getting Better

Today, for the first time since the injury, I noticed a significant improvement of my Achilles tendon.  I didn't realize it until I reached the bottom of the stairs that I walked down normally and with no discomfort.  And there was no discomfort this afternoon after therapy this morning.

The bad news is that my only original hip is starting to hurt.  Another hip replacement appears to be in my future.  I wonder if compensating for the right leg is accelerating the left hip going down hill.