Aftermath
Jan17
Diving into polyamory can be jarring. Or so I’m told. *innocent whistle*
Monday’s strip will likely be filler, because I’ve just plain run out of time. As you read this, we are likely driving to Freezer Burn, for a weekend of no comics, no internet, and just raucous debauchery. It’s Mel’s birthday gift to me, and I’m proud to have her at my side for it. I need this, and she does too. (Her first burn, not mine.)
I liked this article lots. This one is meaty too, but a good, thick read.
Be good to one another, and see you on the other side. Totes Ma Goats.
What is wrong with dry firing a weapon if you ask first?
Nowadays? Nothing. But many older gun designs weren’t built for dry-fire, so firing without the brass to absorb the shock would wear the metal. Black powder nipples would eventually hammer shut and stop working, some (horrible) firing pins would just keep going forward if they don’t have brass to run into (and in revolvers, this could mean they get snapped off on the next rotation of the cylinder), and some hardened parts could theoretically crack because they were designed to bang into nice, soft brass rather than the hardened steel.
That is all very out of date now. Pretty much any gun designed in the last century is dry-fire friendly unless it uses black powder nipples. It’s still not a bad idea to buy some of those plastic “Snap Cap” dummy bullets to practice dry-firing (they have a little fake primer that is a spring-loaded pad. Firing pins bounce back just like a real bullet. Pretty sharp idea), but they are rarely necessary.
I would say that one of the most common exceptions to this is Remington shotguns that use an 870-style bolt: Excessive dry-firing tends to break the firing pin spring, which in turn impedes function.
Rimfires as well.
Congrats to Mel on her first burn!
So… any old school gunsmiths hanging out here? I’m a Civil War Reenactor trying to turn one type of rifle into another. Issue is that I need to recast the brass bits. I’m fairly sure I can find people to teach me *how*, but is there anything that I should be careful of working with muzzle-loader parts that I’m not aware of and the average metal worker wouldn’t know?
Depends on the parts. As long as they aren’t frame/chamber/load-bearing/etc parts, you can probably do a green sand casting and be fine. But there is no reason to melt down the old parts and re-cast, just melt down scrap brass for that. No sense in destroying perfectly good gun parts when there are piles of cheap brass desk ornaments/vases/goblets/etc at Goodwill. Melt scrap brass and give your old parts to another reenactor who is building a gun.
what exactly are you trying to do? I mean if you’re signing up for Johnny Reb’s side and trying to turn a Springfield into a Enfield or something, then just say you scavenged it from a battle lol
“Three, actually”
HAHAHA right on!–oh wait. He means NOT all at the same time? EWWW!
Believe it or not, I’ve heard of guys with, ha, hair-trigger problems double-bagging to prevent it. Doesn’t work and tends to result in breakage.
OR SO I’VE HEARD.
The problem with Dick Metcalf, as multiple dedicated gun bloggers have pointed out, is not so much what he initially said that riled up the community, but how he has handled the resulting situation.
I’m inclined to agree with bloggers like Sebastian when they compare Metcalf and Zumbo. The common perception seems to be that Zumbo’s initial article was far worse, but his handled the situation well, whereas Metcalf has taken every opportunity to feed the agenda/narrative of our political enemies.
I can forgive someone for saying/doing something stupid on occasion, but I can never forgive a turncoat. Metcalf’s actions place him firmly in the later category.
Regarding the linked articles:
Mr. Metcalf probably didn’t deserve to be fired. But hey, it’s his employer’s soapbox, and if they don’t like his content, they don’t have to hire him. If their advertisers find his opinions threatening to their business, they certainly can withdraw their ads from his employer’s magazine. (Remember, the paying customer for most media is the advertiser, not the consumer.)
He absolutely does not deserve to be hounded out of the public square, and I hope he is not. Short of slander or libel, nobody does. And there is no world where he should have to put up with threats against his safety because of his opinion.
Are there reasonable restrictions on the right to keep and bear arms? I would imagine so (one would be anyone imprisoned, on parole, or with a suspended sentence, for violent crime). But right now, there are also a lot of unreasonable restrictions on those rights, and I’d like to see some of them repealed in the process of enacting the reasonable ones.
As for the meaty article, I remain very deeply suspicious of anyone who thinks our government should be more and more powerful. Power doesn’t just corrupt, it also attracts the corruptible, and I don’t think there’s a sane man on earth who would find the trouble of the presidential campaign worth the prize of the presidency. Calvin Coolidge may well have been the last sane man to occupy the Oval Office.
Our government is vastly more powerful than the Founders ever envisioned, and I think this has been bad for our society. Sure, we’re wealthy enough to handle all the taxation, fraud, waste, abuse, and regulations it imposes and still have just about the highest standard of living in the world, but it would be higher still if we didn’t spend about half the year paying for our government, which tends to regard us with hostility and suspicion. I think we’d also have stronger social structures, and be more connected and have more little platoons of friend and acquaintances. The less the government does for us, the more we do for ourselves and each other.
Diving into it? Hell, I’ve been poly for most of my adult life and it can still be jarring every once in a while. You know how sometimes you have to have uncomfortable conversations with your partner? (Health issues, money, their lousy taste in music, whatever) Now imagine having to do that with multiple people, possibly with more than one at the same time. (It does get easier, though, and for me, it’s very much worth it to have these people in my life.)
If he’s this much of a candy ass when he gets laid, he’s gonna lose his nuts when she mentions her latest conquest.
Her first burn?! WELCOME HOME!
Sean / Tinker
Put three condoms over your firing pin before dry-firing.
Heigh-ooooo!