As I mentioned previously, I am working up a new .45ACP load.

One of the things I am really leery of is powders that don't fill up a case very much. It's easy to overcharge or double charge a case that way.

So, if you're putting a load together and looking to do it with a powder you haven't used before, how can you determine the volume of the charge to know how well it fills the case? Sure you can ask around on various boards, or ask more experienced reloaders, but not everyone has tried every powder in every caliber.

I found that Lee has some charts listing the volume of one grain of powder. If you're lucky, like I was, they will have a powder you are familiar with as well the new powder(s) you are interested in.

Using the data from Lee, it turns out that a load of 4.9 grains of WST has the same volume as my current load of 8.3 grains of HS6, and that load fills up the case nicely. I don't think it's quite over 50% of the volume, but a double charge would be very noticeable nonetheless.

The calculations is in one of the pdfs, but it is pretty simple.

Take the given volume, multiply it by the number of grains you are dispensing and that gives you the volume in cubic centimeters.

My HS6 load:    0.0712 x 8.3 = .59096

Max WST load: 0.1205 x 4.9 = .59045

Pretty damned close, identical to the eye for sure.

Here are the links:

Perfect Powder Measure Instructions (go to page 3 for the volume calculation)
Powder VMD's

I was watching the State of the Union address tonight, and at one point during the speech Obama said he was open to other ideas, and looked over at the Republicans and said something like "where are they?"

Personally, I'm tried of this whole Democrat vs. Republican bullshit. They all need to be tarred and feathered and run out of town, but I digress ...

I personally believe about 90% of what the Federal Government does is not only unnecessary, but unconstitutional as well, but let's just assume for a moment that the government can be involved in the delivery of any service it wants to get involved in, and put those concerns aside. Furthermore let's assume a "progressive" policy is just hunkydory, and it's ok for the government to nanny us.

Let's stop worrying about health care, and worry about health. Subsidizing health care insurance is in reality subsidizing insurance companies, and why in the hell would we want to do that?

I propose that we start subsidizing people's actual health instead. Let's get people involved in their health. We're a nation of fatties, let's encourage people to lose weight. (Even better would be to encourage people not to get fat in the first place.) Let's reward people for making good choices.

In addition, let's discourage people from making bad choices, choices which make us unhealthy.

How would we do that?

If you tax something, you get less of it. If you subsidize it, you get more of it.

There's a lot that could be done, and the specifics can be left to someone else to come up with, as far as I'm concerned, but here's a few.

Subsidize:
Weight loss
Healthy foods
Exercise facilities
Maybe throw some tax credits to employers for giving employees time during the work day to exercise.
Running shoes

Tax:
Fast food
Trans fats
High-fructose corn syrup (stop subsiding corn production while we're at it)
Tobacco
Laziness

Obviously there would still be sick people, but we could make a big dent in avoidable illnesses that cost us all.

While I'm at it. Let's tax people that waste health care resources, and reward those who use them judiciously but not to the point that we discourage the truly sick from seeking care, or we encourage people to skip checkups.

MadTV spoofed the iPad before the iPad even existed.



The Apple Ipad for Women - Watch more Funny Videos

I am using Windows 7 for work for the first time this week. I've been stuck on XP forever ...

I like how if you install Outlook 2007 after installing Visual Studio 2008 that when you click the Toolbox in VS2008, you don't see a message that says "Initializing Toolbox" and then get a crash. I like that you don't have uninstall and re-install VS2008, a process that takes over 2 hours, to get it to work again after spending 4 hours googling for solutions.

I like how it sets Windows updates to reboot your computer at 3 am, and that the default power settings don't cause it to hibernate well before then causing it to never install updates. I also like that it doesn't nag you all gawdammed day when you start work in the morning, after those two features worked so well together.

I like how when you install the VS2008 Service Pack 1 that it doesn't wait until after you spent 30 minutes installing it to tell you that it can't install correctly without Administrator privileges, and that you don't have to run it again wasting another 30 minutes.

Up to now, all of my pistol loadings are "full power", so as to better simulate my chosen carry ammo.

There are times that a lower recoiling target loading is more appropriate though, and I don't have one.

My requirements for this loading, in order, are:

Availability of components
Makes IPSC major power factor
Moderate recoil
Decent accuracy
Powder should meter well and be clean burning

So I did some research and looked at the choice in components I have available in this time of scarcity, and made some selections.

Primer:  Wolf LP
Powder: Winchester Super Target (WST)
Bullet:    Precision Delta 230 gr FMJ
Case:     Mixed

Looking forward to working this up.

Here's the load data from Hodgdon:

Bullet Weight (Gr.)

Manufacturer

Powder

Bullet Diam.

C.O.L.

Grs.

Vel. (ft/s)

Pressure

Grs.

Vel. (ft/s)

Pressure

230 GR. HDY FMJ FP

Winchester

WST

.451"

1.200"

4.1

733

13,900 CUP

4.9

848

16,100 CUP

I sent off my application to join GSSF today, and am intending to buy my first Glock soon.

I've never cared for Glocks, to be honest, but I'm holding out hope that the new generation (Gen 4) will work for me.

I'm not intending to carry it, but anything is possible. I'm wanting it for home protection, and possibly shooting Production class in IPSC.

I'm still debating the G17 vs the G19.

I've shot the Gen 3 G19 and do pretty well with it once I have the sights lined up. The Gen 3 G17 does not feel right to me though, but I've not actually shot one. I'm holding out hope that the new smaller grip size will work for me.

They say two things in life are guaranteed: death and taxes.

Well I say there's one thing that's guaranteed after death: your children will fight over your stuff.

I got some bad news today. My grandparents, Jack and Pearl Cobb died today. Apparently they were driving and a young woman fell asleep at the wheel, crossed into their lane and collided with their car.

I don't have much other information. I hope it was quick and painless.

I'll miss you. I love you.

Update:

Apparently the young woman, was on her way back from a church retreat, and for some reason I'm glad that she wasn't drunk and/or texting.

Jack and Pearl were getting into their feeble years. Pearl fell and bumped her head during our Christmas visit, and I felt like it wouldn't be too long before we would have to have a family talk about what kind of care they needed. So, in some sense, I am glad that they won't have to languish in a nursing home or what have you.

That doesn't excuse this woman's negligence, but I forgive her.

She will have a very heavy burden to bear for the rest of her life.

If you couldn't get to the blog for a while, it is because I switched ISPs. I was hoping I could run side by side for a while, but it didn't work out that way.

Perhaps I have a touch of schizo going on but I recently read these two articles and couldn't help but think they might be related.

Retirement Accounts and Treasury Bonds - America's Unprecedented Money and Power Grab

Anarchy in the UK (and US, too)?

I'm currently reading "Chapterhouse: Dune" by Frank Herbert, and found this quote from Reverend Mother Lucilla intriguing:

"A top-heavy bureaucracy the electorate cannot touch always expands to the system's limit of energy. Steal it from the aged, from the retired, from anyone. Especially from those we once called the middle-class because that's where most of the energy originates."

This mentat's primary projection is that we're fucked.

That was baz.c's response to the question: "What do you want for dinner?"

He actually got a PB&J sandwich.

I'm still cracking up over that response. :)-~

I ended up shooting ALSPPC's IPSC match today. Last time I got a little frustrated with all the standing around waiting, but it seemed like things went a lot smoother today, even though it took about the same amount of time. Maybe I'm just getting used to it. *shrug*

I did much better today. For one thing, I managed not to shoot any "no-shoots". I also sped things up a little bit. I'll have to wait and see if my scores improve or not. I think I almost had to have scored better. Last time my gun wasn't running worth a damn, and this time things went smoothly.

I've shot up most of my .45 ammo, so I shot my EMP today which is in the Single Stack division. It is a 9mm so the scoring is minor scoring. I think I'll still score better even with having "Charlies" only worth 3 points.

I saw my first "DQ" today, and my second about 2 minutes after that. The first incident happened when the shooter was "running and gunning." He shot this target once and started moving to the next area, went even with it and then realized he didn't shoot it twice. He then tried to shoot it one handed but his momentum took his body too far forward. He broke the 180 degree plain, and was DQ'd. The next incident involved a teenager who was backing up, and then turned forward to go around an obstacle. He didn't keep the gun pointed down range and was DQ'd. Kinda weird, didn't see anything the first time I went and saw two in rapid succession today.

Update:

Last time I came in 6th out of 8 competitors, and this time I came in 3rd out of 6. I'm happy with that.

I've been badgering my neighbors to go out to the range with me. (We're all pretty good friends.) Well today I dragged along two of them and we shot an IPSC practice match.

One neighbor is a total novice with a pistol, so I was a little worried it might be too advanced for him. I told him if he felt uncomfortable that he didn't have to shoot, but he shot and I thought he did incredibly well given that he said it was his fourth time to ever shoot a pistol. (I taught him what little I know the last time I took him to the range.)

The other neighbor is an Army Ranger with the Texas National Guard and Iraq veteran, so he had a lot more experience needless to say. The Army doesn't teach competition skills, so even he was able to pick some things up today. I think civilians, myself included, have this idea that the Army shoots all the time, but he said it's really not like that unless they are getting ready for deployment.

The match director went out of his way to help us. I didn't think to tell everyone to bring belts and stuff, and I left my mag holder for my Hi-Power at home. He lent us some spare equipment and we managed to make due. He really took a shine to the Ranger and told him to bring his unit out. You can tell he loves what he does and wants to teach and help others.

I think we all had a great time, I know I did.