I have a copy of mine.
Where is his?
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Saturday, June 20, 2009
George Grba is dead.
His daughter called. George Grba died June 17 2009.
I joined B Co 27th Wolfhounds 25th Inf Div Sep 2 1950.
George came to the platoon Jan 25 1951. Men who
had known him in Aug 50 were astonished to see him.
He told me that in Aug he had gone down the hill to fill
canteens, and accidentally shot himself in lower leg
with his rifle. In Nov (?) he got out of hospital and
sat in the hall in the Pentagon for five days to talk
with a general. He explained his wound, and asked to go
back to B Co to prove to himself and to the world that
he is not a coward. The general shook his hand.
George and I were riflemen in First Platoon (Ent's
platoon). The mission of the infantry soldier is to
close with and kill the enemy with a rifle.
I was about ten feet from George when a rifle bullet
grazed the top of his left ear. We were together
daily until April when he was wounded by fragments
from an artillery air burst. He was evacuated and
never came back to the company.
I finished my tour in Sep 51.
George is one of the finest and bravest men I ever met.
It wll be my honour to serve with him again in Valhalla.
Ave atque vale
Through many countries and over many seas
I have come, Brother, to these melancholy rites,
to show this final honour to the dead,
and speak (to what purpose?) to your silent ashes,
since now fate takes you, even you, from me.
Oh, Brother, ripped away from me so cruelly,
now at least take these last offerings, blessed
by the tradition of our parents, gifts to the dead.
Accept, by custom, what a brother’s tears drown,
and, for eternity, Brother, ‘Hail and Farewell’.
Gaius Valerius Catullus
I joined B Co 27th Wolfhounds 25th Inf Div Sep 2 1950.
George came to the platoon Jan 25 1951. Men who
had known him in Aug 50 were astonished to see him.
He told me that in Aug he had gone down the hill to fill
canteens, and accidentally shot himself in lower leg
with his rifle. In Nov (?) he got out of hospital and
sat in the hall in the Pentagon for five days to talk
with a general. He explained his wound, and asked to go
back to B Co to prove to himself and to the world that
he is not a coward. The general shook his hand.
George and I were riflemen in First Platoon (Ent's
platoon). The mission of the infantry soldier is to
close with and kill the enemy with a rifle.
I was about ten feet from George when a rifle bullet
grazed the top of his left ear. We were together
daily until April when he was wounded by fragments
from an artillery air burst. He was evacuated and
never came back to the company.
I finished my tour in Sep 51.
George is one of the finest and bravest men I ever met.
It wll be my honour to serve with him again in Valhalla.
Ave atque vale
Through many countries and over many seas
I have come, Brother, to these melancholy rites,
to show this final honour to the dead,
and speak (to what purpose?) to your silent ashes,
since now fate takes you, even you, from me.
Oh, Brother, ripped away from me so cruelly,
now at least take these last offerings, blessed
by the tradition of our parents, gifts to the dead.
Accept, by custom, what a brother’s tears drown,
and, for eternity, Brother, ‘Hail and Farewell’.
Gaius Valerius Catullus
Got v-bars?
if the interstate is bumper-to-bumper you may need to
use dirt roads. In East Texas after a rain unpaved roads
are slick clay.
See DeLorme atlas of your state.
http://www.delorme.com/atlasgaz/
v-bar chains take you through mud/snow/ice when no
other vehicle can move.
http://www.tirechain.com/VBAR.htm
When you are stuck good samaritans stop to
help you. Predators stop to help themselves.
use dirt roads. In East Texas after a rain unpaved roads
are slick clay.
See DeLorme atlas of your state.
http://www.delorme.com/atlasgaz/
v-bar chains take you through mud/snow/ice when no
other vehicle can move.
http://www.tirechain.com/VBAR.htm
When you are stuck good samaritans stop to
help you. Predators stop to help themselves.
take-down survival rifles
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Take-down survival rifles
the CoPilot 45-70 sells for only $1980.00
http://www.wildwestguns.com/copilot.html
You could have a plain black zipper case
made for your take-down rifle.
One screw holds the shoulder stock on
Marlin 336 30-30 and 1895S 45-70.
With shoulder stock removed:
336 30-30 20" barrel OAL is 28"
1895S 45-70 22" barrel OAL is 30"
cut 45-70 barrel to 16-1/2" .......
OAL is 24-1/2"
I wondered about MV from 16" barrel
see Lyman 47 reloading manual
Thompson-Contender 45-70 16" barrel
cast bullet #457193 405 grains
RX7 33.0gr MV 1386 fps 41.0 gr MV 1578 fps.
IMR-3031 34.0gr 1061 fps 38.5 gr 1304 fps
I suppose it takes about the same
amount of time to assemble the Co-Pilot
as to install the screw that secures
the stock on 1895S and 336.
My favourite take-down rifle is still
the Garand 30-06. Remove trigger housing
group. It separates into two major parts:
barrelled action OAL 32" stock 30"
You may remove one round from the enbloc
clip of eight. Load clip of seven rounds.
Depress rounds and allow bolt to close on
an empty chamber. Disassemble rifle and
store it in black zipper case. Reassemble
rifle, cycle the bolt to chamber a round
and you are ready to shoot.
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Can you throw a castnet?
Who needs a castnet?? I DO!!!
It is worth carrying in SERE.
The man in the first video is a great instructor.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOUkj2h2LjI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzQgh0sIibI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhZWLQLiowI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2eSphNRgfM
Posted by vlad at 4:47 AM 0 comments
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Got Leatherman?
I carry a few sine qua non without which life might be short
but grim. In rear pocket Leatherman Wave sheath five
fishhooks and 30' braided 50 lb test Spiderwire (thin as
BrandX 10 lb); and in side pocket a magfirestarter.
Two MFS for price of one. Cut 1/4"x1"x3" MFS in two lengthwise.
File trench in edge. Hold lighter flints in pliers. Wire brush
to remove coating. Secure flints with JB Weld.
Posted by vlad at 6:37 PM 1 comments
Monday, June 1, 2009
Lyman 310 tailgate reloads
Here is how to load with Lyman 310.
http://www.lasc.us/Brennan_Lyman310Tool.htm
I have Lyman 310 tools for 30-06 and 45-70 kitchen table and tailgate handloads.
http://www.cnyauctions.com/the310shop.htm
[http://www.cnyauctions.com/THE310SHOP-310 Logo.jpg] The 310 Shop
IDEAL, LYMAN IDEAL & LYMAN 310 RELOADING HAND TOOLS
Rick Morrill
4237 Boxwood Drive
Denton, Texas 76208
940-271-1222
[mailto:The310Shop@verizon.net?subject=the310shop.com]
UPDATED 11/07/2008 11:36:27 AM
Now Accepting PayPal!
Please [mailto:The310Shop@verizon.net?subject=the310shop.com] before ordering or sending payment! Sorry, e-Checks NOT accepted!
Mail Order List: 11-01-2008
New 310 Die Sets: Made New Exclusively by the 310 Shop. These are in the original 5 Die configuration.
1. New 41 Long Colt 310 Dies. .........................................................................................................................$85.00
2. New 45 Colt (Long Colt) 310 Dies.................................................................................................................$85.00
3. New 45 S&W Schofield 310 Dies...................................................................................................................$85.00
4. New 25-20 Winchester Repeater. .................................................................................................................$85.00
5. New 32-40 Winchester/Marlin 310 Dies..........................................................................................................$85.00
6. New 38-55 310 Dies.......................................................................................................................................$85.00
25-20 Single Shot 30 Remington 303 Savage 35 Winchester Self-Loader 351 Winchester Self-Loader
New 310 Steel Handled Sets: Made New Exclusively by the 310 Shop. These are in the original 5 Die configuration.
Steel 310 Tools (Handles) are "Caliber Stamped".
Special Size Tool and Dies. Larger diameter Dies than the standard 310 Tool.
.....
7. New 41 Long Colt Steel Handled Set. Steel Tool is stamped "41 LC". No Box...........................................$185.00
8. New 32-40 Steel Handled Set. Steel Tool stamped "32-40". No Box...........................................................$185.00
9. New 44-77 Steel Handled Set. Steel Tool stamped "44-77". No Box...........................................................$185.00
10. New 45-70 Steel Handled Set. Steel Tool stamped "45-70". No Box.........................................................$185.00
11. New 50-70 Steel Handled Sets. Steel Tool is stamped "50-70". No Box.....................................................$265.00
12. New 50-90 Steel Handled Sets. Steel Tool is stamped "50-90". No Box....................................................$265.00
(Call or e-mail for Quotes on any other OBSOLETE 310 Caliber Handled Sets & Die Sets)
Specials:
13. New 7.62x39 Soviet 310 Dies. Made with 300 Savage Dies and New # 41 Primer........................................$85.00
14. "J" to ”X" Shell Holder Adapter, (Converts Tru-Line Jr. Press to use Standard Shell Holders)…….….….$17.00
15. "J" Style Shell Holders. Many, Email for availability....................................................................................$17.00
310 DIE SETS: Obsolete, Rare, & Out-of-Production, Calibers $70.00
(Sets consist of Dies & include Shell Adapter)
Handgun:
22 WCF 22 Remington Jet 221 Remington Fireball 256 Winchester Magnum
30 Luger (7.65x21mm) 30 Mauser (7.63mm) 32 ACP/32 Auto (7.65mm) *** 32 S&W ***
380 Auto (9mm Kurz) 9 Luger (9x19mm Parabellum) 38 Auto/38 Super 38 S&W 38 Spl/357 Mag 38-40 Winchester
41 Rem Mag 44 Russian/44 Special 44-40 (44 WCF) 45 Auto (45 ACP)
45 Auto Rim 455 Webley ***
*** Out-of-Stock ***
Rifle:
218 Bee 219 Wasp 219 Zipper 22 Hornet
22 K Hornet 22-250 Varmint 22 Savage High Power 220 Swift
222 Remington 222 Remington Magnum 223 Remington 225 Winchester
240 Weatherby Mag 243 Winchester 244 Remington 25-20 (25WCF)
6 mm Remington 250-3000 (250 Savage) 25-06 25-35
257 Roberts (257 Remington) 6.5 Japanese 6.5 Mannlicher 6.5x55 Swedish
6.5 Remington Magnum 264 Winchester Mag 270 Winchester 7 mm Mauser (7x57)
7.61 Sharp & Hart 280 Remington 284 Win Magnum *** 7 mm Remington Mag
30 M1 Carbine 30 Remington 30 Caliber Mag 300 Savage
300 Win Mag 300 H&H Magnum 300 Weatherby Magnum 303 Savage ***
303 British 30-40 Krag (30 U.S.) 308 Winchester 308 Norma Mag
30-06 (30 Gov’t) 7.62 Russian Rimmed 8 mm Mauser (8x57) 32 Special Winchester
32-20 (32WCF)*** 7.7 Japanese 338 Win Mag *** 348 Winchester ***
35 Remington 35 Winchester 350 Remington Mag 358 Win Mag ***
358 Norma Magnum *** 375 H&H Magnum 40-65 44-40 WCF
444 Marlin *** 45-70 (45Govt) 458 Winchester
*** Out-of-Stock ***
310 HANDLED SETS IN BOX: (Set Box holds Handles & complete Die Set.)
310 Boxed Sets, with Steel Handles, were mfg. from 1947 to 1957 under the name "Lyman Ideal"....$160.00 each
In 1958 the new "Alloy" Handles were introduced and sold in "Boxed Sets" until around 1972...........$130.00 each
Please click on image to enlarge!
http://www.cnyauctions.com/THE310SHOP-1947 310 Set.jpghttp://www.cnyauctions.com/THE310SHOP-1957 310 Set.jpghttp://www.cnyauctions.com/THE310SHOP-New 310 Dies.jpg
16. 218 Bee with Steel Handles marked "218 BEE" (Orange Set Box.)
17. 219 Wasp with Alloy Handles (Black & Gray Boxed Set)
18. 22 Jet with alloy handles. (orange Set Box)
19. 22 Hornet with Steel Handles marked "22 HORNET". (Orange Set Box.)
20. 22 Savage High Power with Steel Handles marked "22 H P". (Orange Set Box)
21. 220 Swift with Steel Handles marked "220". (Orange Set Box.)
22. 222 Remington with Steel Handles marked "222". (Orange Set Box.)
23. 222 Rem Mag with Alloy Handles. (Black & Gray Set Box.)
24. 223 Remington with Alloy Handles. (Black & Gray Set Box.)
25. 22-250 Varmint with Alloy Handles. (Black & Gray Set Box.)
26. 225 Winchester with Alloy Handles. (("Transitional" Orange Set Box. Diagonal writing.)
27. 243 Winchester with Alloy Handles. (Black & Gray Set Box).
28. 250-3000 (250 Savage) with Alloy Handles. ("Transitional" Orange Set Box. Diagonal writing.)
29. 25-35 with Alloy Handles (Black & Gray Set Box)
30. 6MM/244 with Alloy Handles (Orange Set Box)
31. 6.5 x 257 with Alloy Handles (Orange Set Box)
32. 250 Savage with Steel Handles marked "250 SAV". (Orange Set Box.)
33. 7 M/M Mauser (7x57) with Steel Handles marked "7mm". (Orange Set Box.)
34. 7.7 Japanese with Steel Handles marked "7.7. Jap". (Orange Set Box.)
35. 257 Roberts (257 Remington) with Steel Handles marked "257". (Orange Set Box.)
36. 270 Winchester with Steel Handles marked "270". (Orange Set Box.)
37. 280 Remington with Alloy Handles. ("Transitional" Orange Set Box. Diagonal writing.)
38. 30 Mauser with Steel Handles marked "30 MAUSER" (Orange Set Box)
39. 300 Savage with Alloy Handles. (Black & Gray Striped Box.)
40. 30-30 Winchester with Alloy Handles. (Black & Gray Striped Set Box.)
41. 30 M-1 Carbine with Alloy Handles (Orange Set Box)
42. 308 Winchester with Alloy Handles. (Black & Gray Striped Set Box.)
43. 30-06 Springfield with Steel Handles marked "30-06". (Orange Set Box.)
44. 30-06 Springfield with Alloy Handles. (Black & Gray Set Box.
45. 303 British with Alloy Handles. (Black & Gray Set Box)
46. 303 British with Steel Handles marked 303 British. (Orange Set Box)
47. 338 Winchester Mag with Alloy Handles (Orange Set Box)
48. 350 Rem Mag with Alloy "IDEAL" Handles. (Early 1960's) (Orange Set Box.)
49. 22 Remington Jet with Alloy Handles. (Orange Set Box.)
50. 380 Auto with Alloy Handles. (Black & Gray Set Box.)
51. 9 M/M with Steel Handles marked "9 mm". (Orange Set Box.)
52. 38 Spec/357 Mag with Alloy Handles. (Black & Gray Striped Set Box.)
53. 44 Spec / 44 Mag with Alloy Handles. (Orange "Transitional" Set Box. Diagonal writing.)
54. 44-40 with Alloy Handles. (Black & Gray Set Box.)
55. 45 Colt with Steel handles marked "45 COLT" (Orange Set Box)
56. 45 Auto with Steel Handles marked "45 ACP". (Orange Set Box.)
57. 45 Auto with Alloy Handles. (Black & Gray Striped Set Box.)
IDEAL # 3, # 10, & # 6 Sets: Sets Include Dies and Handles (Tool).
(# 3 Sets for "Rimmed" Cartridges. # 10 Sets for "Rimless" Cartridges)
# 3 & # 10 IDEAL Sets were made from approx. 1914 to 1946. Few were made during the War years........$160.00 each
# 6 IDEAL Sets were made for Larger Calibers from Approx. 1900 to 1925………………………................$160.00 each
44. IDEAL # 10 Set in 30 Luger, (7.65x21mm). Nickel Handles marked "30 Luger". Handles are 95%+ shiny Nickel,
and in excellent shape. Newer 310 Dies in 30 Luger were added to these Handles to make functional Set.
NO BOX.
45. IDEAL # 10 Set in 38 Colt Auto. Nickel Handles marked "38 Colt Auto". Handles are 60%+ and in good, usable
shape. Newer 310 Dies in 38 Auto/38 Super have been added to make this a completely functional Set.
NO BOX.
46. IDEAL # 10 Set in 45 ACP. Nickel Handles marked "45 ACP". Handles are 60%+ and in good, functional shape. Newer
310 Dies have been added to this Tool to make it a completely functional Set. NO BOX.
HANDLES:
Steel Handles.......................................$75.00
Alloy Handles (Large or Small).......$ 60.00
Custom Tools: Standard 310 Size - Our Tool.....$100.00 (Any Caliber) Your Tool....$50.00
Special Size - Our Tool..............$125.00 (Any Caliber) Your Tool....$85.00
STANDARD 310 DIE PARTS: $17.00
Muzzle Resizing Dies (Neck Sizers) Combination Muzzle Resizing / Decapping Dies
Bullet Seating Dies. Decapping Dies (Universal)
Priming Dies. Expander Dies with Expander Plug.
Your choice of Lock Ring Style, (Skinny Ribbed without Set Screw, Ribbed and Knurled.)
SPECIAL SIZE 310 DIE PARTS: $45.00
Muzzle Resizing Dies (Neck Sizers) Bullet Seating Dies
Decapping Dies (Universal) Priming Dies.
Expander Dies with Expander Plug.
Your choice of Lock Ring Style, (Skinny Ribbed without Set Screw, Ribbed and Knurled.)
(Call or Email for quotes on Custom Sets and Calibers)
310 Shell Adapters: $10.00 Die Adapters: Standard 310...$10.00
(Screw-In Shell Guide) Special Size...$15.00
(Use 310 Dies in standard press)
Lock Rings: Standard 310: $2.00 each
Special Size: $5.00 each
Bullet Sizing Dies: $17.00 (310 Die for Sizing Lead Bullets)
We are currently making these ourselves. In any diameter you wish. These are "Hand Made" one-at-a-time. Make sure you order the size you want. (You should order the same diameter as the Bullet you intend to shoot.)
Please click on image to enlarge!
http://www.cnyauctions.com/THE310SHOP-Bullet Sizer.jpg
Shell Resizing Dies: $20.00 (Full Length Shell Resizer, Tap-In style) Email for availability.
Kake Kutters: $17.00 These are New, Exact Replicas of Lyman Kake Kutters used to cut Lube off Cast Bullets.
We make these ourselves. In any diameter you wish. These are "Hand Made" one-at-a-time. Make sure you order the size you want. (You should order the same diameter as the Bullet you intend to shoot.)
(These are by Diameter and not Caliber. Order as .454 not 45 Colt, or .457 not 45-70, etc.)
Please click on image to enlarge!"
http://www.cnyauctions.com/The310Shop-6-Kake Kutter.jpg
Miscellaneous Parts: Email or Write for availability.
Seating Screws, Expander Plugs, Decapping Rods & Pins, Extractor Claws, Extractor Springs, Extractor Roll Pins, and Lock Rings.
PAYMENT
I accept Person Checks, Cashier's Checks, Money Orders, or PayPal. (Sorry, PayPal "E-Checks" NOT accepted!) Payment is expected within 10 days of the date you place your order. If not received, your item is then subject to re-sale. Orders for Custom Made Sets and pieces will not begin until full payment is received.
SHIPPING: $6.00
Actual cost if outside the US. Larger orders, or heavier than average 4-5 Die Sets orders, will be actual cost. Insurance is available at buyer's request and payment.
NOTE: Out-of-Country & Overseas Shipping. Everything is now shipped Express Mail, with a full Custom's Tag. Approximately $28.00 per Set.
I buy, sell, and trade (except for USED modern caliber die sets,) especially for calibers listed as ***Out-Of-Stock***.
If you see something you want, please let me know ASAP, so I can hold it for you.
Inventory changes daily, and many of the pieces are rarely seen, or very hard to find.
If you don't see what you want e-mail me so I can add your wants to the “WANTS LIST”.
I especially like rare, unusual, and large calibers.
SHOOT STRAIGHT...RICK MORRILL
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Food insurance aka tree crops
[Practical Survival magazine Feb-Mar issue 1992]
Food Insurance by Harmon Seaver
Planting a policy against tough times
They're rioting in Africa
They're starving in Spain
There's hurricanes in Florida
and Texas needs rain.
They're freezing in Siberia
There's strife in Iran
What nature doesn't do to us
Will be done by our fellow man.
Sound familiar? Even if you don't rememeber the Kingston Trio hit of the 60s, its message rings out endlessly on the front page of any daily newspaper.
Try another headline which caught my eye recently - "El Nino is back!" Depending upon your locale, and the subsequent bane or blessing dropped in your lap by the last advent of that awesome atmospheric aberration, this declaration might be just enough to shiver your timbers. Or at least give pause to your currnet plans for next summers's garden.
Not only are we unable to control natural (or man-made) disasters, but we have little luck even predicting them. World-shaking phenomena like El Nino ( killing more than 1,100 people and causing an estimated $8.7 million in damage during its appearance) ebb and flow unhindered around the globe. Climatologists are just beginning to correlate the manifold vagaries of this global weather abnormality and have yet to really get a handle on it. Predictability seems unlikely.
Occuring on average four or five years, El Nino might recur in two years or not in ten. Its effect is definitely worldwide; while causing torrential rains and flooding in one area, this bizarre
weather pattern concurrently brings devastating drought, famine and forest fires to another. Or opposite effects for the same period in subsequent cycles.
Airborne particulate matter -- volcanic smoke, dust and ash; smoke from industry, forest fires and slash-and-burn agriculture; dust from cleared land; exhaust from cars and aircraft -- can have a decided effect upon our weather, and consequently, our lives. Precisely what, however, is somewhat undecided. Climatologists and others debate whether these minute particles in the upper stratosphere warm our atmosphere by contributing to the "greenhouse effect" -- primarily caused by increasing CO2 levels (up more than 10% since 1850) - or cool the planet by reflecting and blocking incoming sunlight.
This latter scenario seems to hold the most water. Strong archaeological evidence suggests periods of intensified volcanic activity may have nurtured glaciers and triggered ice ages. Around the world, there has been a rise in volcanic activity since 1950, compared to the half century previous..
From 1850 to about 1940, particularly the Northern Hemisphere, went through a period of significant warming according to the National Oceanographoic and Atmospheric Administration.
But since 1940 there has been a distinct drop. England's annual growing season shrank by nine or ten days between 1950 and 1966. Sea ice returned to Iceland's coasts after more than forty years virtual absence.
The only surety about weather is that it changes, and we have to change with it. When it rains we put on raincoats; when it freezes - longjohns. Likewise our gardening techniques are adapted to various weather patterns and seasons. Raised beds and plastic row covers work wonders in areas with cold wet soils, while irrigation becomes a must in sandy soil and periods of drought. Different types and varieties of crops can hold the key to success in climatic extremes.
In this age of uncertainty, prudent American families find it comforting to stock their larders with months, even years, worth of canned or freeze-dried foods. After all, agrarian societies developed from hunting and gathering tribes because agriculture is not only more energy-efficient, but provides additional security. Modern gardeners practice their art for often these very same reasons -- cost-efficiency and protection of both supply and organic quality.
Crop failures due to events beyond our control do occur however, and food supplies can become erratic or nonexistent given our current climate of social and economic uncertainty.
Even the master gardener, with the most well-developed plot of ground, cannot cope with some of the bizarre aberrations of El Nino, abnormally low temperatures from a nearby Mount St Helens, or the exigencies of war and civil unrest. In reality, most of our common food crops are relatively delicate, compared to wild plants. And if crop failure is extensive enough, those dependent upon commercial food supplies become desperate -- tremendous social upheaval results. The prudent gardener would do well to prepare now for such an eventuality by literally planting against misfortune.
Nature has provided a profusion of extremely hardy food plants. Compared to sissified garden and farm crops which needed to be pampered and coddled every step of the way, native food species (especially the perennials, trees and shrubs) are super plants. True many would cringe at the prospect of living all winter on a diet of beans from the Siberian pea shrub, Jerusalem artichoke tubers or duckweeds. But we'd live and we might even come up with some tasty recipes.
Not to suggest that everyone rush out and begin planting their hard won deep humus to shrubs, forgetting the okra, squash and melons. But most of us have some spare dirt, perhaps around the periphery of our yards. Some, like myself, have acres to root around in any way we please.
A hedge, just one form of our rainy-day crop might take, can provide privacy, windbreaks, shade, wildlife cover and feed; or even a secure, stock-proof fence. All the while growing bigger and sturdier, ready to supply your family with emergency rations should the need ever come. Think of it as food insurance.
Can these trees, shrubs and hardy perennials really produce enough feedstock in small-area plantings to provide true alternative resources? Well, here's what Earle Barnhart said in Tree Crops, an article published in the Journal of The New Alchemists: "Tree crops can match row crops in both protein and carbohydrate yield per acre. Modern hybrid-grain crops such as corn, wheat, and soybeans only outproduce tree crops such as Persian Walnut, filberts, Chinese chestnuts, honey locust and black walnut if they are highly subsidized with fossil-fuel inputs such as pest protection, weed removal, nutrient enrichment and constant, adequate water."... "large fields benefit from being sheltered; the approximate 5% used for windbreaks is well-compensated by higher productivity from the remainder. Tree products such as acorns and honey-locust pods can match corn and oats pound-for-pound as winter feed supplements for livestock." Or us.
"Other woody plants do even better, such as mesquite. This small deciduous tree, native to our Southwest, is so hardy some folks claim it is related to the coyote -- indestructible.! Cows relish its seedpods, and so did the Indians. Pods, minus the seeds, contain much sucrose, about 8-12% protein and are rich in calcium, iron and phosphorus. Mesquite beans which must be ground for human consumption, contain a whopping 60% protein." In fact the whole tree was of vital importance to early natives of the Southwest. The mesquite gives shade, building material, firewood, food and its fibruous bark can be woven into fabric. The honey mesquite in particular is a favourite of honey bees, hence its name: and both it and the velvet mesquite exhibit exceedingly attractive foliage, often planted as ornamentals.
Like the eastern locust, mesquite is a nitrogen-fixing legume. And also like the locust it has many sharp spines, making it ideal for trimming into a dense man-or livestock-proof hedge. Growing to 20 feet tall, this plant provides security in more ways than one. Prowlers or potential looters can easily be disheartened by such a barrier surrounding a house. Nor would its wealth be evident to the gaze of the average brigand searching for food stocks and other valuables.
Honey and mesquite locust grow well south of northern Oklahoma, southern Colorado, Utah and central Nevada. They both tolerate a wide range of conditions: 100-150 days of frost per year, up to 30 inches of rain (or as little as 6 inches), and they grow in sand, gravel, rocks, loam or clay; with either alkaline, saline, acid or neutral soils.
Mesquites withstand full desert heat, and during drought conditions they reduce their transpiration rate and water useage. Growth declines or halts, and the trees enter a resting mode, which they may maintain without permanent ill effects for long periods. Mature mesquite is also fire-survivable - the tops may burn but dormant buds will survive underground to send up new shoots.
Of course, while the mesquite might even survive a nuclear blast in its native area, sub-zero Minnesota winter would be too much for it. So for colder climes, a better choice would be the Siberian pea shrub. Hardy to -50F degrees, it approaches the mesquite in drought resistance.
If trimmed as a hedge, the Siberian pea shrub grows into a spiny, impenetrable 24-foot-tall buffer covered with nutritious seedpods. The young green pods are eaten as a vegetable, while the mature seeds contain 36% protein and are used in recipes calling for dried beans or peas. If protected from livestock while small, pea shrubs will form an excellent cattle-and-man-proof fence, providing nourishing livestock and wildlife feed and cover - all the while waiting to serve you with life-sustaining fare in hard times.
Another similar leguminous tree is the honey locust, named for the sweetness of its pods and its attractiveness to honey bees. Here again, once shaped into a dense hedge, honey locust makes a formidable fence, provides a generous bounty of tasty, nutritious pods and seeds for both animals and man, and is an attractive addition to any yard.
These three trees also are excellent candidates for the poultry yard, dropping their seedpods in late fall and eary winter to provide superb fodder you don't have to haul from the feed store. Many find the mulberry to be outstanding in this regard also. A fast-growing tree, the mature white (or Russian) mulberry can yield 400 pounds of collectible fruit, plus additional amounts taken by birds and squirrels. Dried mulberries are a staple in Afghanistan. Netting is spread on the ground under the trees, and over a 30 day period about 75% of the fruit is caught, which amounts to over five and one half tons per acre. US Dept Agriculture analyzed dried pulp from Afghan mulberries and found it contaied 70.01% invert sugar, 1.2% sucrose, 2.59% protein 1.6% fat and no starch.
The Afghans grind their dried berries and almonds, but the Japanese find even more edible produce on the mulberry tree. They eat the tender young shoots and leaves, cooked or raw.
While their white mulberry is not native to the United States, it may grow hardy and drought-resistant all across our country. Also, there are US-native species such as the Texas mulberry for the southwestern states, and the red mulberry. These trees are also trimmed for hedges, either alone or with other species.
Many other fruit and nut trees can add significantly to our larder, and some are very handy -- almost unfailing within their range. Because of size and formidable root systems, trees and shrubs generally have an edge over their punier garden brethren. But there are many perennial herbs, forbs and grasses which do nearly as well, bringing a quicker return on your investment. While most trees take years to become profitable, perennials can provide a substantial harvest their first year.
One of the most remarkable plants is the Jerusalem artichoke. Widely used by early American Indians, this native is extremely hardy throughout the country, and generally disease-and-pest-free. It spreads rapidly -- some consider this a problem -- and is marvelously productive. Yield is about 15 tons to the acre, five times more than potatoes, and once planted it is with you forever. An established plot crowds out out all competitiors (it helps to rototill the plot every year or so) and so needs no weeding.
This tall relative of the sunflower can be cut more than once as fodder, and Jerusalem artichokes have also found success as a fuel crop - fermented and distilled into alcohol. Its tubers - relatively high in protein, potassium and B vitamins, are also very high in a form of sugar called levulose. Tubers can be left in the ground for hog pasture, or just dug as needed, since freezing does them no harm. Even tiny slices of the tuber seem to sprout the following spring, assuring an endles supply.
Chickory, dandelion, and winter cress are a trio which should be on everyone's "must" list for early crops, and for forcing in the basement during winter. Some might wince at the thought of actually planting "weeds" in their garden, but when you want hardiness - they don't come much tougher.
Dandelion's leaves have four to five times as much protein, fat, carbohydrates, minerals and vitamins as does lettuce; chickory is much the same, and both can be eaten raw or cooked. Roots can also be cooked like turnips or parsnips. Winter cress is even hardier, and sold commerically in some areas. Winter cress contains three times as much vitamin C as in equal amounts of orange juice, and as much vitamin A.
But why bother planting things which may be found wild almost everywhere? Simply because cultivation greatly enhances productivity and ease of harvest. Remember, our ancestors switched from gathering to growing for security and efficiency.
One more addition to our survival garden is comfrey. This lush green plant seems unkillable - as many have found when it spreads to where it isn't wanted. The early leaves are good pot herbs, and quite healthful. Up to 32% protein, with many vitamins, minerals, and a healing drug called allantoin is found in comfrey leaves and roots.
Allantoin is a valuable remedy for external and internal ulcers, and the only common source for the chemical is the fetal-ammoniac sac. Comfrey will grow in wet or dry climate, in the poorest soil. Its roots may reach down 20 feet or more to extract nutrients from subsoil, and comfrey can produce 60 tons per acre of green material. It is also very frost-resistant, being one of the first plants to come out in the spring, and one of the last to die in fall.
For those in dry climates, a necessary adjunct to the mesquite would be the tepary bean, long cultivated by southwestern Indian tribes. Although not a perennial, tepary is a true desert plant, often maturing after only one or two rains. The tepary bean is the most drought and heat-adapted food crop known. Far from being fit only for the palate of some grizzled desert rat, the tepary contains more protein than most commercial beans, and is mild flavoured and better tasting to boot.
Waterlogged? Enjoy the luxury of your own pond? Or even the possibility of making a shallow one? Then you can increase your organic food supply's stability and security one hundredfold. Homesteaders confined to a small city yard can still opt for a pond ala Rodale aquaculture experiments - a 12-foot plastic swimming pool. Work done by the New Alchemy Institute in this vein, with small-scale indoor aquaculture systems, is also worth investigating. Those fortunates who possess adequate land and water may well hold the key to a veritable garden of Eden.
Standard procedure for setting up a new household in some part of China involves digging a pit to mine clay needed for adobe blocks used in homebuilding. Afterwards, this pit is filled with water, and fish stocked therein. Pigs and chickens are usually penned beside or over the pond, and their manure used to fertilize the water, creating an algae bloom which feeds the herbivorous fish.
Subsequently, highly fertile water from this pond irrigates a garden which feeds the family --
and the livestock -- so energy flows circularly, thus efficiently. A variant practice involves two ponds, each used alternately as fishpond-garden-fishpond. Or even with a third pond used for a rice paddy.
Whatever your aquatic possibilities or proclivities, pond culture opens a window of opportunity unparalleled in dry-land gardening. Even a shallow pond or paddy growing only cattails represents a backup food supply unequalled by any known farm crop. Here again, American Indians made wide use of this plant -- eating young cattail shoots, rootlets, flour made from its root stock, and even its pollen.
The Cattail Research Center at Syracuse University found yields of 140 tons of rhizomes per acre is possible -- with 30% starch content, this converts to 32 tons of dry flour. Rather incredible. If you do not favor the prospect of cattail flour three times a day, think how many hogs can be fed on 140 tons of starchy rhizomes.
Open your window of options a little more by deepening the pond. Wild rice, while not really a perennial, acts like one by automatically reseeding itself each year. With more protein and slightly higher fat-content than domestic rice, wild rice played a substantial role in filling dietary requirements of those American Indians blessed with it. Hardy up to northern Canada, freezing even to the floor of the pond will not harm it. However, yearly cultivation of the pond bottom or flowing water are necessary to control the spread of other aquatics. A strong erosional and/or depositional force of water current is nature's plow.
Rice will grow in as little as 2 inches of water or as deep as 2-3 feet, but will not tolerate large fluctuations, especially increases. Slowly decreasing water levels, all the way to the wet mud, are fine. Soil can be sand, gravel or mud. However, deep, oozy sediments of great organic content, where there is no current to stir up and oxygenate the substrata, will be too anaerobic to grow rice. Such environs suit cattails fine, however.
Deepen the hole a bit more, or at least one end of it, and fish farming becomes possible. At least 8 feet of depth is needed for overwintering in cold climates, unless there is an adequate flow of water to stop ice from forming solid all the way down. Warm-season-only fish crops require much less depth, of course, with three feet being quite efficient. Aeration is another possibility, but this adds complication, and we're talking about foolproof food here.
Another energy give-and-take can occur by "planting" duckweeds on your pond's surface. These tiny water plants are super durable, even living in the far north. Under good conditions they can double their biomass in three days to one week. Raked from a pond surface and fed to pigs and chickens - or people - duckweeds provide amazing amounts of food. And, of course, ducks forage their own. Duck potatoes, of the arrowhead family, are another aquatic edible, once a staple food, by Indian tribes and waterfowl alike.
The list could go on and on, but my point is made. The orthodox forms of agriculture we are most accustomed to are not the only ones - nor are they the most efficient or reliable. The idea of a traditional American farm as the ultimate in productivity and advanced technique holds little water in reality. Nor are customary food crops able to provide us with true nutritional security, however much we enjoy their taste.
Our agricultural system, our flagging economy - indeed, the whole entity - appears more fragile every day. We think of America as a corncopia of plenty, but how many of us realize that no city in our land has more than a three-day supply of food on hand at any given time?
El Nino is coming - El Chichon is rumbling. Start today to plant a hedge against misfortune.
Harmon Seaver is the author of The Coming Holocaust and has written for Organic Gardening and Fur-FIsh-Game magazines.
Posted by vlad at 8:53 AM 2 comments
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Eskimo house
www.duffyslaw.com/current14.htm
My life with the Eskimo Stefansson
excerpt ESKIMO HOUSING
Primitive dwellings using a simple seal oil lamp maintain temperatures between 60 and 70 degrees farenheit on the coldest winter night of fifty below zero.
Eskimo houses were constructed with a hole in the roof to allow in light. The hole which was most often left open was covered with Bear intestine. The base of the house was five to six foot thick made of earth and sod and tapered and thinned out towards the top which was about six foot square. The top had about six inches of earth on it. The center of the house was about nine feet high and the walls at the edge were about five feet high. The opening on the roof was about three foot square. 3 or 4 lamps burned continuously and one of the most important duties of the wife was to make sure they didnt smoke or go out. The entrance to the house was a twenty to forty foot shed-covered tunnel about four feet lower than the floor of the house.
The cold air in the tunnel would not rise into the house which was kept warm by the four lamps at a temperature of sixty to seventy degrees fahrenheit even when the outside temperature was fifty below zero! They would sit with only shorts on in the house. So they would be bare below the knees and above the waist. After five months Stefansson began to enjoy the boiled fish they would eat for supper. The entryway and the hole in the roof were kept open most of the time, but especially during cooking. The only time the entryway would be covered would be to prevent a baby from falling into it or puppies coming in from outside and this was only rarely. Stefansson would usually sleep next to the tunnel entryway to get more fresh air. Each corner of the room had an elevation for sleeping that was covered by skins as was the floor. The houses at first smelled bad but soon you realized that it was the cooking of food that gave the smell to the house. The lamp is a halfmoon soapstone about two or three inches deep kept almost full and the wick is a powdered ivory (walrus), sawdust, dried moss ground in the fingers, manila rope from the whalers with a strand taken and chopped into tiny pieces. The wick is made from the powder laid in a strip which the oil soaks. A piece of fat is suspended over the flame and when the wick dries the flame gets brighter and hence hotter and more fat drips into the halfmoon lampbowl which then fills and wets the wick more which cuts down the height of the flame and this works by itself for about six or eight hours.
Stefansson claimed that the natural ingenuity, friendliness, charitableness of the eskimo was a universal trait of man and that there were really no superior or inferior races which appears to contradict a statement he made about the indians compared to the eskimo when he first encountered the eskimo after having been exposed to the indians. (This puts me in mind of the oft used phrase of Abraham Lincoln the family of man, DHD Sr .) The open center of the house was like a club pip on playing cards it was twelve foot square with an alcove in each corner which sometime would lead to another house. Stefansson lived in one which connected to the uncle of the Eskimo with whom he lived. The entire compound accommodated 23 people.
Posted by vlad at 2:45 PM 1 comments
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Self defence is legal in Montana
http://thementalmilitia.com/forums/index.php?topic=19964.60
Re: Montana Shooting Sports Association and JRC
« Reply #65 on: May 01, 2009, 01:24:12 AM »
Fwd: What's in HB 228?
From: Gary Marbut-MSSA
To: mssa@mtssa.org
Dear MSSA Friends,
Several of you have emailed me to ask what we actually got when theGovernor signed HB 228.
Here's what we got:
1. A clear policy statement by the Legislature that self defense is
a natural right and that self defense by citizens reduces crime.
2. A clear policy statement by the Legislature that the right to
bear arms in Montana is a fundamental (important legal term) and
individual right.
3. Reversal of guilty-until-proven-innocent for people defending
themselves. This provision requires the state to prove beyond a
reasonable doubt that a person defending herself or himself was NOT
justified in using force, rather than before, that defenders must
have proven that they were justified in using force. Trust me, this
is very important.
4. Legislative declaration of policy that a defender has no duty to
summon help or flee before using force to defend, in any place the
defender is lawfully.
5. Open carry is legal. This has been presumed in Montana, but
never stated in law. People have been arrested for open carry. HB
228 will settle that issue for good.
6. A defender may announce "I have a gun," with no more fear of
prosecution under Montana's overbroad felony "Intimidation" statute.
7. Defensive display. A person may show an attacker that the
defender is armed, and may even draw the gun and still be clearly on
the right side of the legal line if the defender genuinely fears attack.
8. Requirement that when police investigate a scene where self
defense is claimed, investigators must collect evidence that may
support a claim of self defense as well as any other evidence.
9. Improved conditions for a defender to use force in any occupied
structure. This applies to all occupied structures, not just a dwelling.
10. Police may not destroy any firearms seized. Any firearms seized
must either be returned to the rightful owner or sold back into the
marketplace.
11. Landlords may not prevent tenants from possessing
firearms. This not only protects travelers staying in motels, but
also protects those who cannot afford to own their own homes.
12. Restoration of the right to bear arms for people convicted of
non-violent crimes who have done their time and been released from
state supervision. This will not apply to a person who committed a
crime of violence or a crime where a weapon was used.
13. The ability to use reasonable force to effect the citizen's
arrest of a person believed to have committed a crime - to be able to
hold the person until law enforcement can be summoned (as happened
recently in Thompson Falls).
14. An immediate effective date. All of this became effective while
the ink from the Governor's signature was drying.
All in all, that's quite a bit.
Gary Marbut, president
Montana Shooting Sports Association
http://www.mtssa.org
author, Gun Laws of Montana
http://www.mtpublish.com
Posted by vlad at 12:12 PM 2 comments
Why do we need permission ????
We need permission from a federal judge to tell the federal
government to butt out?
http://www.star-telegram.com/legislature/story/1355073.html
HB1863 a bill to make guns, ammo and parts made, sold and kept in Texas free from federal regulation
http://tinyurl.com/pn3o9s
section A2003.006. ATTORNEY GENERAL.
(b) On written notification to the attorney general by a
citizen of the citizen’s intent to manufacture a firearm, a firearm accessory, or ammunition to which this chapter applies, the attorney general shall seek a declaratory judgment from a federal district court in this state that this chapter is consistent with the United States Constitution.
EDITED TO ADD
makes me wonder if the water in Austin Texas causes testicular atrophy.
http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2009/billhtml/HB0246.htm
the new law, Montana Firearms Freedom Act has no such requirement.
Posted by vlad at 3:53 AM 0 comments
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
My new toy
April 13 I drove to Houston to buy my new toy
the Worksman PAV3-3CB 110 lb 3 speed
industrial tricycle 500 lb GVW. It has thick steel rims
and 11 gage (0.120") spokes. In the past under my 280 lbs
numerous spokes and several Sun Mammoth aluminum
rims broke while riding on paved shoudler of the highway
at heady speeds approaching 8 mph average. These wheels
won't break.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5tgLLmZj8w
It took real effort to make it over these little sand hills
in low gear. It still takes effort but now I use second gear.
I ride every day. Soon I will ride the same route in third
gear. Like the little train I know I can I know I can.
Posted by vlad at 12:52 PM 1 comments
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Fishkit in 14" Gerber ax handle
Fishkit in the hollow handle of my 14" Gerber ax consists of
-size 8 and size 12 treble hooks threaded onto a safety pin.
-50 lb test braided Spyderwire fish line (as thin as BrandX 10 lb test line) wrapped on a clear plastic sewing bobbin
- magnesium firestarter cut in half lengthwise, and painted to retard corrosion. I attached a cord to MFS, ran it through the center hole of the bobbin, and attached it to hacksaw blade
scraper.
-two single-edge razor blades
To keep everything inside the hollow handle, I stuffed a small mesh bag into the handle, and threaded a leather thong through the two holes near the open end of the handle.
You get two MFS for the price of one. Cut a Magnesium FireStarter in two lengthwise, one piece has a striker inset, and the other does not. Place the piece of MFS (that has no striker inset) in a vise. file a trench lengthwise. Hold Ronson lighter flints in pliers and with wire brush remove red coating from each flint. Apply mixed JB Weld to trench in MFS. press lighter flints into the JB Weld. Next morning after the JBWeld is dried, apply two coats paint to MFS, else it will rapidly corrode in damp climate. After paint has dried, connect MFS with stout nylon cord thru bobbin of fishline to 3" section of hacksaw blade.
Posted by vlad at 4:49 PM 0 comments
Friday, May 1, 2009
meat
I bought ground beef round, dried it in Harvest Maid food dehydrator until it snapped like a dry stick, battered it to small chunks and ground it to powder in Corona corn mill.
one cup dried jerky powder weighs 4 oz = 10 oz fresh meat
1 cup meat powder, 2oz sunflower oil,ground cayenne and cold water in a jar (shake well) makes a quick sustaining meal. Meat powder, oil, ground cayenne, cheese and hot water makes a delicous instant soup.
(Edited to add this info) 100 grams (3.5 oz) ground cayenne contains 16 grams protein, 56 grams carbs, 76 grams Vitamin C and lots of other goodies.
http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/cgi-bin/nut_search.pl?cayenne
Add a cup or two of ground jerky powder to pancake and cornbread batter. You'll like it
................................................................................................
http://www.mongoliatoday.com/issue/5/borts.html
Dried Meat, Food to Last
Mongolian food is rather simple and nourishing. Encounters with different cultures in the course of centuries long wandering across Europe and Asia did not affect the basic diet of nomads, comprising mainly of various combinations of meat and flour.
Life in a saddle, frequent moves in search of better pastures tending their herds prevented Mongols from developing a sophisticated cuisine.
But while Mongols failed to come up with a wide variety of dishes, they mastered what was available to perfection, especially when it comes to meat. There are dozens ways of cooking it: boiling, frying, drying, steaming or smoking.
Here we give a description of how borts (bour- tsi), or dried meat is made-- an ancient way of preserving meat through long harsh winters or marches across continents
As soon as the first cold winter days settle in early December, most Mongolian families set out to store meat reserve.
As a rule, one cow and up to seven to eight sheep are sufficient for a family of five to last through long and harsh winter, until diary products become more available during spring livestock breeding season.
Beef is the meat of choice, but each region has its own specifics. Herders in the Gobi Desert store mostly camel meat, while mountain tribes prefer to slaughter a yak or goats.
First, fresh meat is cut into long, 2- 3 cm thick and 5-7 cm wide strips, then hanged on a rope inside a gher, just under the ceiling where air circulates freely.
Within a month, the meat dries up. Once all the moisture evaporates, meat strips turn into hard, wood-like sticks of a slightly brownish color. The stripped and dried meat of one cow shrinks enough to be easily fit into the animal's stomach.
When the borts is ready, it is taken down and either broken into small pieces, 5-7cm long or minced. The borts is put into a bag made of canvas that allows airflow in and out. Borts can be kept in such bags for months and even years without losing the qualities of meat.
Dried meat is an ideal food for travelers. On long marches, Mongols simply take out a stick of dried meat, powder it and add to boiling water to make a cup of fresh and nourishing bouillon. Even nowadays, many Mongols take a small bag of borts when traveling to faraway places for study or to live.
"I survived the wet and cold winter only by making a cup of borts soup once in a while," says a Mongolian journalist, after spending six months on the Atlantic shore of England.
page 90 Wilderness Cookery by Bradford Angier
Meat is the one complete food. Plump fresh meat is the single food known to mankind that contains every nutritional ingredient necessary for good health. It is entirely possible for man to live on meat alone. No particular parts need be eaten. Fat juicy sirloins, if you prefer, will supply you with all the food necessary for top robustness even if you eat nothing else for a week, a month or a decade.
Every animal in the far and near reaches of this continent, every fish that swims in our lakes and rivers and streams is good to eat. Nearly every part of North American animals is edible, even the somewhat bland antlers that are not bad roasted when in velvet, to the bitterish gall that has an occasional use as seasoning. The single exception is the liver of the polar bear, and of the ringed and bearded seal, which at certain times become so rich in Vitamin A that it is well avoided. Juicy fricasseess, succulent stews and sizzling roasts are fine fare.
If anything, most of us would be happy eating more of this ideal grub which contains all the vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients necessary for full vigor. One way to acomplish this? By not passing up the birds and small game which are freely available to many of us thoughout the entire year and which if not eaten will only be wasted.
from Wilderness Cookery by Bradford Angier
Drying is the simplest way to preserve meat. Cut with the grain. Cut lean deer, moose,elk, caribou, beef and similar red meat in long strips 1/2 inch thick. Hang strips not touching on bushes, etc. Lay on sunwarmed rocks. Turn every hour os so. Smoke from a small fire of non-resinous wood keeps flies away. Season to taste with salt, pepper, thyme. oregano etc. Dry meat until hard, blackish., leathery. Jerky keeps indefinitely if kept dry and away from insects. Trim visible fat for long storage. Jerky alone lacks sufficient necessary fat for the long-term. Supplement it with fats.
from Arctic Manual by Vilhjalmuir Steffansson
On a diet of straight meat , cut fat and lean into inch cubes. Eat one fat, one lean. When fat no longer tastes good, eat just lean until you are full. If fat makes you nauseous you are eating too much of it. The Eskimos he saw were a strong, healthy race and they subsisted on a diet which consisted largely of meat and animal and marine fat. The fat included large quantities of whale blubber. Yes the Eskimo did not suffer from obesity. If meat needs carbohydrate and other vegetable additions to make it wholesome then the poor Eskimo were not eating healthfully .. they should have been in a wretched sate. On the contrary, they seems to me the healthiest people I had lived with."
Farming for Self-Sufficiency John & Sally Seymour page 117
Biltong is salted and dried strips of buck meat or beef and it is almost worshipped by South Afrikans. Living in the back-veld of South West Afrika, as I used to do, biltong formed an important part of my diet. If I shot a gemsbok or a kudu I would turn a very large part of it into biltong. I have made it in Wales since then, in fact I made some last year, out of beef,
and it has been perfectly successful. The only drawback is you need prime cuts really; biltong made from odd bits of scrag end is not really much good.
But this is the way you do it. Cut lean meat up in strips, say an inch square but the longer the better, along the grain or fibre, of the meat. This is most important: do not cut it across the grain. Lay it in dry salt for six hours. Wash the salt off it and hang it - if in southern Afrika in the dry season - in the shade but in the breeze - if in the British Isles in the chimney. I leave mine in the chimney, in light smoke, for say three days, take it down, hang it up in the kitchen, and it is perfect biltong. It is as hard as hickory. To eat it you just pare or shred little shavings off the end of it across the grain with your Joseph Roger 'Lambsfoot' knife (old back-velders will know what I mean), put it on bread and butter, and it is delicious.
Posted by vlad at 11:50 AM 1 comments
Monday, April 27, 2009
To cast bullets in the field
To cast bullets in the field I would dig a Dakota fire hole;
make a wire bail on a 15 oz bean can; put bail on a metal
rod across the fire hole to hang the can down in the fire
hole to melt the wheel weights. I would flux with wax,
stir and pour the metal with a lead dipper; then drop the
bullet from mould into water to quench and harden.
http://www.survivaltopics.com/survival/the-dakota-fire-hole/
http://www.buffaloarms.com/browse.cfm/4,2480.html
http://www.castbullet.com/reload/acast.htm
excerpt Paco Kelly talks about water-quenching bullets
and I have begun to use this method of quickly cooling
bullets cast from wheelweights. If you drop the bullet
into the water straight from the mold, the water cools
the bullet quickly imparting additional hardness to the
new bullet. Hard bullets are good if you are casting for
smokeless powder.
So, if I am casting for my pistols and want hard bullets,
I fill the mold and let the sprue harden. As soon as the
sprue hardens I whack the sprue plate and drop the
sprue on the towel. I then hold the mold over the
water-filled can and drop the bullets directly into the
can. When the bullets are hot, you can hear them
sizzle as they hit the water. end excerpt
Posted by vlad at 9:51 AM 0 comments
Dakota fire hole
http://www.survivaltopics.com/survival/the-dakota-fire-hole/
Posted by vlad at 4:55 AM 0 comments
Friday, April 24, 2009
B0V bike in the trunk
A cheap and dirty BOV bike in the trunk
--buy an 0ld steel frame bike cheap
--install heavy duty wheelset and airfree tires
--cut t0p tube and d0wntube
--use external sleeve, 0r steel b0lt inside tubes, t0
c0nnect the cut tubes. drill h0les. tw0 b0lts at each end
maybe use allenhead screws?
--disassemble/assemble quickly
This bike has 400 lb GVW.
http://tinyurl.com/55zc5p.
You can equip any frame with
400 lb GVW one speed wheelset.
WHEEL 26x2.125 rear coaster brake, 120g, steel (HD-120)
http://tinyurl.com/55zc5p00-222 Price: $42.00
WHEEL 26x2.125 front, 120-g spokes, steel (HD-120)
Price: $27.00
http://tinyurl.com/cmokpc
www.airfreetires.com
Tell Hugh Waters that you want
the +30% version 0celot and
Sierra Unidirectional. They have
little rolling resistance under
my 280 lbs.
http://www.airfreetires.com/shopping/p-60-26-x-19-ocelot-low-profile-559-premium-hd.aspx
http://www.airfreetires.com/shopping/p-64-26-x-19-sierra-unidirectional-559-premium-hd.aspx
Posted by vlad at 5:59 AM 1 comments
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Silent but deadly and other Ed Harris essays
silent but deadly and other Ed Harris essays
http://guns.connect.fi/gow/ed.html
Cast Bullet Basics For Military Surplus Rifles
By C.E. Harris Rev. 9-6-93
FOR THE FULL - NON-CONDENSED VERSION, PICK UP THE NEWEST EDITION OF HANDLOADER'S DIGEST.
Cast bullet loads usually give a more useful zero at practical field ranges with military battle sights than do full power loads. Nothing is more frustrating than a military rifle that shoots a foot high at a hundred yards with surplus ammo when the sight is as low as it will go!
Do NOT use inert fillers (Dacron or kapok) to take up the excess empty space in the case. This was once common practice, but it raises chamber pressure and under certain conditions contributes to chamber ringing. If a particular load will not work well without a filler, the powder is not suitable for those conditions of loading.
Four load classifications from Mattern (1932) cover all uses for the cast bullet military rifle. I worked up equivalent charges to obtain the desired velocity ranges with modern powders, which provide a sound basis for loading cast bullets in any post-1898 military rifle from 7 mm to 8 mm:
1. 125-gr., plainbased "small game/gallery"
900-1000 f.p.s., 5 grains of Bullseye or equivalent.
2. 150-gr. plainbased "100-yd. target/small game",
1050-1250 f.p.s., 7 grs. of Bullseye or equivalent.
3. 150-180-gr. gaschecked "200-yard target"
1500-1600 f.p.s., 16 grs. of #2400 or equivalent.
4. 180-200-gr. gaschecked "deer/600-yard target"
1750-1850 f.p.s., 26 grs. of RL-7 or equivalent.
None of these loads are maximum when used in full-sized rifle cases such as the .30-40 Krag, .303 British, 7.65 Argentine, 7.7 Jap, 7.62x54R or .30-'06. They can be used as basic load data in most modern military rifles of 7 mm or larger, with a standard- weight cast bullet for the caliber, such as 140-170 grains in the 7x57, 150-180 grains in the .30 calibers, and 150-190 grains in the 8 mm. For bores smaller than 7 mm, consult published data.
The "Small Game or Gallery" Load
The 110-115-gr. bullets intended for the .30 carbine and .32-20 Winchester, such as the Lyman #311008, #311359 or #311316 are not as accurate as heavier ones like the #311291. There isn't a readily-available .30 cal. cast small game bullet of the proper 125-130-gr. weight. LBT makes a 130-gr. flat-nosed, GC bullet for the .32 H&R Magnum which is ideal for this purpose. I recommend it highly, particularly if you own a .32 revolver!
The "100-Yard Target and Small Game" Load
I use Mattern's plainbased "100-yard target load" to use up my minor visual defect culls for offhand and rapid-fire 100-yard practice. I substitute my usual gaschecked bullets, but without the gascheck. I started doing this in 1963 with the Lyman #311291. Today I use the Lee .312-155-2R, or the similar tumble-lubed design TL.312-160-2R. Most of my rifle shooting is done with these two basic designs.
Bullets I intend for plainbased loads are blunted using a flatnosed top punch in my lubricator, providing a 1/8" flat which makes them more effective on small game and clearly distinguishes them from my heavier gaschecked loads. This makes more sense to me than casting different bullets. Bullet preparation is easy. I visually inspect each run of bullets and throw those with gross defects into the scrap box for remelting. Bullets with minor visual defects are tumble-lubed in Lee Liquid Alox without sizing, and are used for plain-based plinkers. Bullets which are visually perfect are sorted into groups of +/- 0.5 grain used for 200 yard matches. Gaschecks pressed onto their bases by hand prior running into the lubricator-sizer.
For "gaschecked bullets loaded without the gascheck," for cases like the .303 British, 7.62 NATO, 7.62x54R Russian and .30-'06 I use 6-7 grains of almost any fast burning pistol powder, including, but not limited to Bullseye, W-W231, SR-7625, Green Dot, Red Dot, or 700-X. I have also had fine results with 8 to 9 grains of medium burning rate pistol or shotgun powders, such as Unique, PB, Herco, or SR-4756 in any case of .303 British size or larger.
In the 7.62x39 case use no more than 4 grains of the fast-burning powders mentioned, or 5 grains of the shotgun powders. These make accurate 50-yd. small game loads which let you operate the action manually and save your precious cases. These plinkers are more accurate than you can hold.
Repeated reloading of rimless cases with very mild loads results in the primer blast shoving the shoulder back, unless flash holes are enlarged with a No.39 drill to 0.099" diameter. Cases which are so modified must NEVER be used with full-power loads! ALWAYS identify cases which are so modified by filing a deep groove across the rim with a file and label them clearly to prevent their inadvertent use. For this reason I prefer to do my plainbased practice shooting in rimmed cases like the .30-30, .30-40 rag, .303 British and 7.62x54R which maintain positive headspace on the rim and are not subject to this limitation.
The Harris "Subsonic Target" Compromise
Mattern liked a velocity of around 1250 f.p.s. for his "100-yard target" load, because this was common with the lead-bullet .32-40 target rifles of his era. I have found grouping is best with non-gascheck bullets in military rifles at lower velocities approaching match-grade .22 Long Rifle ammunition. I use my "Subsonic Target" load at around 1050-1100 f.p.s. to replace both Mattern's "small game" and "100-yard target" loads, though I have lumped it with the latter since it really serves the same purpose. Its report is only a modest pop, rather than a crack.
If elongated bullet holes and enlarged groups indicate marginal bullet stability, increase the charge a half grain and try again. If necessary increasing the charge no more than a full grain from the minimum recommended, if needed to get consistent accuracy. If this doesn't work, try a bullet which is more blunt and short for its weight, because it will be more easily stabilized. If this doesn't do the trick, you must change to a gaschecked bullet and a heavier load.
The Workhorse Load - Mattern's "200-Yard Target"
My favorite load is the most accurate, Mattern's so-called "200-yard target load". I expect 10-shot groups at 200 yards, firing prone rapid with sling to average 4-5". I shoot high-Sharpshooter/low-Expert scores across the course with an issue 03A3 or M1917, shooting in a cloth coat, using my cast bullet loads. The power of this load approximates the .32-40, inadequate for deer by today's standards.
Mattern's "200-yard target load" is easy to assemble. Because it is a mild load, soft scrap alloys usually give better accuracy than harder ones such as linotype. Local military collector-shooters have standardized on 16 grains of #2400 as the "universal" prescription. It gives around 1500 f.p.s. with a 150-180-gr. cast bullet in almost any military caliber. We use 16 grains of #2400 as our reference standard, just as highpower competitors use 168 Sierra MatchKings and 4895.
The only common military rifle cartridge in which 16 grains of #2400 provides a maximum load which must not be exceeded is in the tiny 7.62x39 case. Most SKS rifles will function reliably with charges of #2400 as light as 14 grains with the Lee .312-155-2R at around 1500 f.p.s. I designed this bullet especially for the 7.62x39, but it works very well as a light bullet in any .30 or .303 cal. rifle.Cast Bullet Basics For Military Surplus Rifles (cont.)
Sixteen Grains of #2400 Is The Universal Load
The same 16 grain charge of #2400 is universal for all calibers as a starting load. It is mild and accurate in any larger military case from a .30-40 Krag or .303 British up through a .30-'06 or 7.9x57, with standard-weight bullets of suitable diameter for the caliber. This is my recommendation for anybody trying cast bullet loads for the first time in a military rifle without prior load development. I say this because #2400 is not position sensitive, requires no fiber fillers to ensure uniform ignition, and actually groups better when you just stripper-clip load the rifle and bang them off, rather than tipping the muzzle up to position the charge.
Similar ballistics can be obtained with other powders in any case from 7.62x39 to .30-'06 size. If you don't have Hercules #2400 you can freely substitute 17 grains of IMR or H4227, 18 grs. Of 4198, 21 grs. of Reloder 7, 24 grs. of IMR3031, or 25.5 grs. Of 4895 for comparable results. However, these other powders may give some vertical stringing in cases larger than the 7.62x39 unless the charge is positioned against the primer by tipping the muzzle up before firing. Hercules #2400 does not require this precaution. Don't ask me why. Hercules #2400 usually gives tight clusters only within a narrow range of charge weights within a grain or so, and the "universal" 16 grain load is almost always best. Believe me, we have spent a lot of time trying to improve on this, and you can take our word for it.
The beauty of the "200-yard target load" at about 1500 f.p.s. is that it can be assembled with bullets cast from the cheapest inexpensive scrap alloy, and fired all day without having to clean the bore. It ALWAYS works. Leading is never a problem. Once a uniform bore condition is established, the rifle behaves like a .22 match rifle, perhaps needing a warming shot or two if it has cooled, but otherwise being remarkably consistent. The only thing I do after a day's shoot is to swab the bore with a couple of wet patches of GI bore cleaner or Hoppe's, and let it soak until the next match. I then follow with three dry patches prior to firing. It only takes about three foulers to get the 03A3 to settle into tight little clusters again.
"Deer and Long Range Target" Load
Mattern's "deer and 600 yard target load" can be assembled in cases of .30-40 Krag capacity or larger up to the .30-'06 using 18-21 grs. of #2400 or 4227, 22-25 grs. of 4198, 25-28 grs. Of RL-7 or 27-30 grs. of 4895, which give from 1700-1800 f.p.s., depending on the case size. These charges must not be used in cases smaller than the .303 British without cross-checking against published data! The minimum charge should always be used initially, and the charge adjusted within the specified range only as necessary to get best grouping. Popular folklore suggests a rifle barrel must be near perfect for good results with cast bullets, but this is mostly bunk, though you may have to be persistent.
I have a rusty-bored Finnish M28/30 which I have shot extensively, in making direct comparisons with the same batches of loads on the same day with a mint M28 and there was no difference. The secret in getting a worn bore to shoot acceptably is remove all prior fouling and corrosion. Then you must continue to clean the bore "thoroughly and often" until it maintains a consistent bore condition over the long term. You must also keep cast bullet loads under 1800 f.p.s. for hunting, and under 1600 for target work.
A cleaned and restored bore will usually give good accuracy with cast bullet loads if the bullet fits the chamber THROAT properly, is well lubricated and the velocities are kept below 1800 f.p.s. The distinction between throat diameter and groove diameter in determining proper bullet size is important. If you are unable to determine throat diameter from a chamber cast, a rule of thumb is to size bullets .002" over groove diameter, such as .310" for a .30-'06, .312" for a 7.62x54R and .314" for a .303 British.
"Oversized .30s" like the .303 British, 7.7 Jap, 7.65 Argentine, 7.62x39 Russian and frequently give poor accuracy with .30 cal. cast bullets designed for U.S. barrels having .300 bore and .308 groove dimensions, because the part of the bullet ahead of the driving bands receives no guidance from the lands in barrels of larger bore diameter. The quick rule of thumb to checking proper fit of the forepart is to insert the bullet nose first into the muzzle. If it enters to clear up to the front driving band without being noticeably engraved, accuracy will seldom be satisfactory.
The forepart is not too large if loaded rounds can be chambered with only slight resistance, the bullet does not telescope back into the case, or to stick in the throat when extracted without firing. A properly fitting cast bullet should engrave the forepart positively with the lands, and be no more than .001" under chamber throat diameter on the driving bands. Cast bullets with a tapered forepart at least .002" over bore diameter give the best results.
Many pre-WWII Russian rifles of US make, and later Finnish reworks, particularly those with Swiss barrels by the firm SIG, have very snug chamber necks and cannot be used with bullets over .311" diameter unless case necks are reamed or outside turned to .011" wall thickness to provide safe clearance. Bullets with a large forepart like the Lee .312-155-2R or Lyman #314299 work best in the 7.62x54R, because the forcing cones are large and gradual. Standard .30 cal. gaschecks are correct. Finnish 7.62x54R, Russian 7.62x39 and 7.65 Argentine barrels are smaller than Russian 7.62x54R, Chinese 7.62x39, Jap 7.7 or .303 British barrels, and usually have standard .300" bore diameter, (Finnish barrels occasionally are as small as .298") and groove diameters of .310-.3115".
In getting the best grouping with iron sighted military rifles, eyesight is the limiting factor. Anybody over age 40 who shoots iron sights should to equip himself with a "Farr-Sight" from Gil Hebbard or Brownell's. This adjustable aperture for your eyeglass frame was intended for indoor pistol shooters, but it helps my iron sight rifle shooting, and adds about 5 points to my score!
Posted by vlad at 6:50 AM 0 comments
Thursday, April 16, 2009
can you hide your thermal image?
when you are hunted how will you hide your thermal image?
I don't know. maybe those heavy aluminized space blankets.
thermal rifle scope
http://tinyurl.com/dnc8vu
thermal scope hog hunting
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLp6DQjDjxw
Posted by vlad at 6:57 AM 0 comments
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Holbrook device for Garand
The Holbrook Garand rifle thumb saver is $45.00
postpaid. Please send postal money order
John Holbrook
2015 24th St #57
Bellingham WA 98225
john.holbrook@comcast.net
see Boston's Gun Bible page 11/30
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
The Device is a replacement for the GI op rod catch and it stops automatic bolt release when loading a clip. It also prevents auto clip ejection when the last round is fired.
http://www.biggerhammer.net/manuals/garand/expl-vue.htm
Pls see exploded view Garand
The Holbrook device replaces item 31 oprod catch.
He cut the hook off, and installed a spring on one side.
With it installed, the Garand operates much like the M-14/M1A. When a full clip is inserted into the receiver it will latch, however you must pull and release the bolt handle to charge the top round. It will operate in the normal manner until the last round is fired and the
bolt will lock open but the clip will not eject. To eject the clip you must push the eject button on the receiver...
With an empty clip latched in the receiver, single rounds can be loaded into the clip, 1 through 8. when you have as many as you wish, just pull and release and away you go.......
The rifle is not modified and can be converted back to GI by replacing the Device with the original catch.
I installed it in my Garand. It works exactly as described. I am delighted.
So long as the army is supplying you with unlimited ammo it does not matter if the enbloc clips fly away never to be found. The unreconstructed diehard resister/survivor skulking in the mesquite thickets will appreciate the Holbrook device. It allows him to remove the empty clip and keep it for reloading. That's good because he may not be able to find more .
I was a rifleman in First Platoon Co B 27th Wolfhounds Sep 50 to Sep 51 in Korean War One. The idea that the enemy waits to hear the PING of the ejected enbloc clip to charge your position is utter horseshit.
Posted by vlad at 10:34 AM 0 comments
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
The Load, cost of components, trajectory
http://www.icehouse.net/fgrig/gun/REDDOT.TXT
excerpts
"The velocities obtained with 13 grs. of Red Dot appear mild, but "The Load" is no pipsqueak! In a case like the .308 or .30-'06, you get (from a 24" sporter barrel) about 1450 f.p.s. with a 200 gr. cast bullet, 1500 with a 170-gr., or 1600 with a 150-gr. cast load. "The Load" is fully comparable to "yesterday's deer rifle", the .32-40, and provides good expansion of cheap, soft alloys (10-13 BHN) at woods ranges. Jacketed bullet velocities
with "The Load" are about 120-150 f.p.s. less than a lubricated lead bullet of the same weight. "
and " Wheelweights also work well, as do soft "Scheutzen" alloys such as 1:25 tin/lead. in bores of 8 mm or larger. "The Load" drives soft-cast .30-cal. to 8 mm bullets fast enough to get expansion, but
without fragmenting. These out-penetrate factory .30-30
softpoints, and kill medium game up to 150 lbs. well at short ranges up to 100 yards, when placed accurately. In medium and large bores like the .375 H&H or .45-70, "The Load" gives typical black powder ballistics for the bore. A 255-265 gr. cast bullet in the .375 H&H approximates the .38-55 at 1330 f.p.s. Soft 300-
405-gr. cast bullets are pushed at 1300-1350 f.p.s. from a 22" barrel .45-70, sporter are very effective on deer at woods ranges. Cast bullets over .35 cal. do not have to expand appreciably to work well on game if blunt and heavy for their caliber. "
WAG at cost of 45-70 cast reloads
components per Midwayusa mar 18 09
IMR4064..1 lb...21.49...129 54 gr...17 c
Red Dot..1 lb .15.79....538 13 gr....3 c
CCI 200 LR primers 1k....27.99.....2.8 c
Buffalo Arms cast bullets
.458 405 FN.....26.99 for 50....54 c
wheelweights
25 cents per lb....17 400 gr/ lb .. 2 c
Buffalo reload
54c bullet
17c powder
3c primer
-----------------------------------
74 cents
...wheelweight reloads........
2c bullet ..,.400 gr.....
3c powder..13 gr red dot...
3c primer....CCI 200.....
--------------------------------
8 cents
Learn fields of fire in your AO
24 inches from nose to navel on average man
Truck odometer graduated in 1/10 mi
1/10 = 176 yards
2/10 = 352 yards
per nr 10 Speer loading manual
Marlin 1895 45-70 22" barrel
Speer 400 gr jacketed FN BC .214
MV......100.......200.......300.....400.....500
1700... +8.........poa......-34......-100.....-208
MV........50...100...150....200....250
1300....+5...+6......poa....-14....-38
1000....+9...+10....poa....-21....-54
Ruger Nr 1 22" barrel 45-70
MV......100...150.......200....250
2100....+3.....poa......-6......-16
Rem 700 22" barrel 30-06
Speer 165 gr spitzer BT BC .477
MV......100......200.....300.....400...500
2700....+5.......+6.......poa....-13....-35
SMLE 25" barrel 303 Brit
150 gr spitzer bc 411
mv........100.....200.....300....400....500
2500......+6.......+7........poa...-17....-45
180 gr RN bc .304
mv........50.....100....150....200....250
1500...+3.....+5.......poa....-10......-27
1000....+8.....+9.....poa...-20.......-50
Posted by vlad at 6:51 PM 0 comments
Monday, March 16, 2009
priming tool mod
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXWi0ZtBoYs
(Re video - I do not place my hand over the mouth of the case in which I am seating a primer.)
If you turn the RCBS Hand Priming Tool upside down the primer seating rod falls out.
Disassemble the priming tool.
About an eighth of an inch from the rounded end, file/saw a thin notch about 1/3 through the primer seating rod.
Grasp the end of the tool operating spring with ViseGrip WR5 and bend the end of the spring half closed.
Press the primer seating rod through the spring. The half-closed spring will grasp the notch near the rounded end of the primer seating rod.
Reassemble the tool.
Turn the tool upside down if you wish. The primer seating rod won't fall out.
Posted by vlad at 2:27 AM 0 comments
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Nixtamal
Nixtamal is the treated corn that is used to make masa and hominy. First the corn is cooked and soaked in lime, rinsed and then the hulls may or may not be removed. This task may seem daunting and the ingredients may seem unusual, but they are easily found and you will have fresher tasting Posole, Tamales and Tortillas. Once you assemble the ingredients, the rest is easy.
You can use nixtamal in * Tamale Dough * Corn Tortillas * Hominy for Posole
Time Required: 2 hours to 24 hours, depending on use
Here's How:
1. Prepare Measure out 3lbs or 2 quarts of dried corn, 4 quarts of water and 5 tablespoons slaked lime.
2. Mix Mix water and lime in a large nonreactive pot. Turn up heat to "high" and stir constantly until lime is thoroughly dissolved.
3. Cook Add corn to pot and remove any kernels that float to the top. Bring water to a rolling boil, then turn down heat to let it simmer.
* Tortillas- Bring to a boil and remove from heat. Let soak overnight.
* Tamale Dough- Boil for 15 mintues, then let it soak for 1 1/2 hours.
* Hominy- Boil for 15 minutes and let it soak for 15 mintues.
4. Soak After simmering for the appropriate amount of time, cover the pot and turn off the heat. Allow the corn to soak in the heated water. See #8 for soaking times.
5. Rinse and Remove Drain corn in a large colander and rinse under water using your fingers to rub the corn, removing all traces of lime. If you are making hominy, it will be necessary to remove the hulls at this time. The hulls are the little brown tips, and you can just rub them or pick them off.
6. Additional Rinse Put the hulled corn into a large bowl and cover with lukewarm water. Allow to soak for 5-10 minutes while moving the corn around with your fingers. Repeat. This will ensure the lime is washed away.
7. Drain Drain the finished corn through a colander and you now have nixtamal.
8. Cooking and Soaking Times-
* Tortillas- Bring to a boil and remove from heat. Let soak overnight.
* Tamale Dough- Boil for 15 mintues, then let it soak for 1 1/2 hours.
* Hominy- Boil for 15 minutes and let it soak for 15 mintues.
9. Process or Grind To make dough for tamales or tortillas, you will need to grind the nixtamal. The food processor can be used for tamale dough, but it won't grind it fine enough for tortillas. You can use a grinder, or a metate y mano to grind it very fine for tortillas.
Tips:
1. Make sure to remove all of the lime or your masa will be sour and taste badly.
2. For hominy, remember to remove the hulls.
3. Follow the cooking and soaking times because they differ depending on what you are going to be using it for.
4. Be very careful with the lime as it is caustic and can cause bodily harm if ingested in large quantities. It is in the same family as lye.
5. If you have trouble finding lime, try the pickling supplies section of your local grocer. It may be called pickling lime.
What You Need:
* Dried Corn - Field, Dent or Hominy
* Lime- "Cal", Slaked Lime, Calcium Hydroxide (Not Quick Lime or Calcium Oxide)
* Water * Food Processor or Grinder
* Non-Reactive Pot (Stainless Steel or Enamel)
Reply With Quote
Posted by vlad at 10:44 AM 0 comments
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Worksman industrial tricycle
I am considering the PAV3-3C tricycle
http://worksmancycles.com/shopsite_s...html/pav3.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5tgLLmZj8w
or the M2626-3B tricycle http://worksmancycles.com/shopsite_s...html#M2626-3CB
both are heavy duty with thick steel wheels, 11 gage spokes (0.120")
and rated about 500 GVW.
If you have used either of these machines please give me your opinion.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Earthship solar home
Earthship is an earthsheltered, solar home whose walls are old tires packed with dirt. One side of the earthship is a greenhouse.
Here are two of numerous Earthship videos.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9jdIm7grCY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rlrhxqat_6A&NR=1
Posted by vlad at 8:26 AM 0 comments
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
safely close a sharp folder
Teach children of all ages to safely close a knife.
Clench left fist. Place blade under thumb of
clenched fist, cutting edge away. Release lock.
Slowly move handle to cover cutting edge.
Posted by vlad at 7:54 AM 0 comments
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Airfree bicycle tires
Airfree tires of polyurethane microfoam
cannot go flat or blow out. I have them on
five bikes since 2001.
http://felixwong.com/2006/12/air-free-tires/
Felix Wong commented,
"Conclusion: I am impressed by these tires. They have convinced me that all generic claims made about modern airless tires — heavy, poor rolling resistance, hard to mount, crackpot money-making schemes, etc. — are bunk.
That they ride harsher than pneumatic tires may be true, but only marginally so. I personally don’t think they ride all that uncomfortably (and note that when I did my commuting rides, I was wearing jeans instead of padded cycling shorts!), and I especially like how I no longer have to worry about flat tires, carrying tire changing tools, or pumping up the tires before going into town.
They are perfect for the Ultimate Commuter Bike, and I believe they may even viable for training rides for competitive cyclists who don’t want to deal with flats. The main people they would not be suitable for are racers and people who are really picky about ride quality (most of these people ride sew-ups anyhow :) ).
If you try them out, please let me know what you think.
Posted by vlad at 6:39 AM 2 comments
Thursday, November 20, 2008
The Black Arrow
a review of The Black Arrow by Vin Suprynowicz, he of the brass balls.
http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/delsignore93.html
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0976251604/qid=1111697617/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-7473025-4014366?v=glance&s=books
If you have never read Suprynowicz, Who was Carl Dregas? is a fine place to start. http://www.geocities.com/northstarzone/drega1.html
Vin Suprynowicz lets it all hang out. If asked I would say that he is elegantly literate.
Best yarn I read lately. reminds me of EFAD. The Order of the Arrow is a small group of illegally armed patriots devoted to killing the enemies of the Constitution. They do business in a sincere manner.
excerpt The Black Arrow p 41
Jerry Westheimer was just a tax man, a medium level cog in a very big machine. He knew that people did not like him but did not expect to be killed for what he did, which was to steal the property of the productive class, a little at a time gradually driving his own country deeper and deeper into the sinkhole of socialist corruption and induced redistributionist poverty.
The Black Arrow was great. Reminded me of Unintended Consequences, EFAD and Batman.
Many ladies will identify with the women warriors of The Order of the Arrow skilled in bow, sword, pistol and rifle.
I mailed it back to the owner. I'll pick up a used copy for reference. I'll probably read it a few more times. People who do not return borrowed books should be impaled on fence posts, or boiled in oil.
Posted by vlad at 6:25 AM 1 comments
Saturday, October 18, 2008
the Zeppelin bend knot
http://www.survivaltopics.com/survival/how-to-make-a-zeppelin-bend-knot/
easy to tie two ropes together; and easy to untie
even after knot is subjected to heavy loads.
Posted by vlad at 8:50 AM 1 comments
Monday, September 29, 2008
comparison four brands 22LR subsonic
http://www.jesseshunting.com/articles/guns/category16/66.html
Posted by vlad at 8:13 AM 3 comments
Saturday, September 27, 2008
electric motor bicycle
I was wondering if the unreconstructed diehard resister/evader/survivalist
might use such a vehicle as this with solar recharge capability.
One could pedal normally 98% of time and use electric assist as necessary.
Worksman (one,three or seven speed coaster brake) and Husky offer heavy duty industrial bikes GVW 400 lbs.
Hummer is 300 lb GVW
bicycle trailers carry up to 100 lbs.
don't need no steeeenking gasoline. bicycles have electric motor with
rechargeable batteries.
the Hummer with Cyclone motor
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=selRFZUzh6Q
the Ultimate Hybrid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKKvP9wWrlY&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lV4FxzprGfg&NR=1
motor kit
http://www.werelectrified.com/product_info.php?cPath=2&products_id=1
Posted by vlad at 4:23 PM 1 comments
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
My 4x4
Older Chevy 4X4s: The Ideal EMP-Proof Survival Vehicles, by Vlad
The ideal survival vehicle is a 4x4, 3/4 ton made by GMC or Chevrolet. They are easy to work on, old enough to be cheap, new enough to get parts for and, tough enough to last.
My 1976 GMC 4x4 3/4 ton pickup has 300,000+ plus miles. Maintenance = reliability. It has V8 350, 4 speed standard shift, 4.10 axles, dual-range transfer case, manual hubs. In Low range first gear I have crept up and down icy mountain roads with perfect confidence --- and V-bar chains on all four wheels.
Between the steel line from the gas tank, and the mechanical fuel pump, I installed a piece of new neoprene gas hose with two in-line fuel filters in tandem. This serves to capture grit that would abrade, and shorten the service life of, the fuel pump diaphragm; and otherwise clog the moving parts inside the fuel pump. Between the output side of the mechanical fuel pump and the intake of the carburetor I installed a long piece of neoprene gas line, with one inline fuel filter, secured where it will not touch the exhaust manifold.
At the front of the block, near the mechanical fuel pump, there is a hole threaded 3/8x16. Screw a 3/8x16 bolt in that hole to secure the fuel pump push rod. Remove the old fuel pump. Now is the best time to install neoprene lines and in-line fuel filters as described above. Install new fuel pump. Remove 3.8x16 bolt before you start the engine.
I swapped the high energy ignition (HEI) with a [microprocessor] electronic module) for a [traditional and EMP-proof ] points-type distributor. The HEI distributor is $200 and points-type distributor is $50. I replaced Quadra-Jet 4 barrel carburetor with an Edelbrock 1405 4 bbl carb, and bought a calibration kit. I can change jets and rods for anything from max power in axle-deep mud to economy cruise at high altitude. Just now I have it calibrated for 6,000 foot elevation. In East Texas 400 foot elevation at 65 mph I average 12.5 mpg.
My carb flooded. The engine would not start. I disassembled the carb on my tailgate and found a defective float. I replaced both floats (from my tool box), reassembled the carb and drove home.
In my truck toolbox I carry at all times a starter, alternator, fuel pump, complete distributor; extra points, condenser and rotor; and hand tools ...as well as food, a rifle or two, two axes, and a daypack with a few goodies. If you ain't got it with you it could be a long walk to get it.
I use the alternator but have a generator; and installed a wire-wound voltage regulator. The generator stays in my toolbox. It takes only minutes to bolt the generator in place.
Chevrolet part number 3814970, right exhaust manifold, has a place to mount the generator. It fits all Chevy/GMC small block V8 '73 thru '86. You can order a new one from your dealer.
A generator-equipped vehicle with standard transmission will roll-start without a starter or a battery. If the battery is missing, secure the positive battery cable clamp where it cannot possibly ground. Tape it to a heater hose. Roll start and go!
An alternator must be electrically energized to produce electric current. If your truck has an alternator you must have a battery.
Avoid automatic transmissions. Since around 1960 [US built] automatic transmission vehicles will not push start.
We can thank Big Brother for the many changes in automotive design. Electromagnetic pulse (EMP) from a nuclear detonation 400 miles above earth will destroy all unshielded electronic parts in line-of-sight. ...... the electronic components in Electronic-Fuel Injection, alternators, telephones, radios, televisions, computers, watches, GPS........etc
In 1945 we nuked Hiroshima and Nagasaki. At that time all vehicles had carburetors, generators with wire-wound voltage regulators, and points-type ignition. Vehicle exposed to EMP were still operable. In the early 1950s US conducted nuclear tests in Nevada, and studied effects of nuclear weapons ([including] EMP). Shortly thereafter the generator was replaced with an alternator that has unshielded electronic "chips" ..
If your racy 2007 model Technodazzle stops, call the AAA. Have it towed to the dealer. A highly educated Automotive Diagnostic Technician will attach it to a $100,000 computer to learn which parts to change. Repairs may cost as little as four months pay.
1973 through 1986 Chevy/GMC 4x4 pickup, Blazer and Suburban (seats nine if you wish) have 95% parts interchange. The same carb, fuel pump, alternator, starter fits them all. Every junkyard from Fairbanks to Florida has lots of old Chevy 4x4s.
Procedure for Changing HEI to Traditional Points Ignition on a 1976 GMC/Chevy V8 350:
A picture is worth a 1000 words. At the public library find a Chilton manual for 1974 Chevy/GMC V8 350 and study the engine ignition wiring; and photocopy those pages to use as a guide.
If possible, find someone who drives a 74 or older GMC V8 350 and eyeball his wiring.
buy these parts
- rebuilt points distributor for 1974 GMC V8 350, with cap and rotor
- also buy replacement points, rotor and condenser (for later tune up. each time you use tune up parts, immediately buy replacements for your toolbox for next time.)
- buy the Allen wrench with long handle with which to adjust the points
- set of points-type spark plug wires
- 8 each AC-Delco # 44 spark plugs (Gap them to 0.035")
- two ballast resistors ( one goes in toolbox for later)
- one coil and coil bracket (you may want to buy an extra coil at this time)
STEP ONE is to read all instructions three times before you do anything else. If possible have an experienced friend oversee your installation.
Begin:
-remove negative battery cable clamp from the alternator bracket.
-tape the negative battery cable to a heater hose (so it cannot ground).
-mount ballast resistor on the firewall.
-mount the coil and bracket on the fire wall below the ballast resistor.
-the (only ) RED wire that presently runs from ignition switch through firewall to your HEI distributor will be connected to the driver side of the ballast resistor. (cut the red wire at a point 3" from HEI distributor. cut a 15" inch piece of number 12 insulated wire to extend the RED wire to connect to driver side of ballast resistor.
use a butt connector to connect 15" wire to red wire. use a spade connector to connect it to ballast resistor.)
-with an 8" piece of number 12 insulated wire, spade connector on each end, connect passenger side of the ballast resistor to the "plus" ( + ) side of the coil.
-the only black wire hanging out the bottom of the points distributor connects to the
minus ( - ) side of the coil. (it goes from points to minus side of the coil)
For future reference, with a white paint stick, mark a large - and + on the coil. when you are cold, tired and the wind is blowing up your jacket (and your wife is asking if you got it fixed yet) it will help to see those marks and not have to rely on memory.
points distributor cap terminals --
#2 is the first terminal CW of the "door" in the distributor cap where you adjust the points.
firing order is 1 - 8 - 4 -3 - 6- 5- 7 - 2
with masking tape label points distributor cap terminals, HEI distributor terminals, and each HEI spark plug wire near the spark plug.
driver side front to back 1, 3, 5, 7 ..... and passenger side front to back 2, 4, 6, 8;
pull the plug wires off each spark plug but leave them connected to distributor cap.
remove HEI distributor cap with spark plug wires still attached. lay that aside for now.
Note the position of HEI distributor rotor. If it points to 6 o'clock, write on a 3x5 card "rotor to 6 o'clock" and tape that card on inner fender.
-loosen hold-down bolt ( 9/16" wrench) and remove HEI distributor
-install points distributor with rotor pointing to 6 o'clock (if that is what you wrote on the 3x5 card taped to the inner fender). the points distributor rotor must point exactly as did the HEI distributor rotor.
-hand tighten the hold-down bolt. later you will need to turn the distributor by hand when setting the timing.
you bought new AC 44 plugs and gapped them 0.035".
-now install the new spark plugs.
-install the points distributor cap.
-install the new plug wires one at a time. using the HEI distributor cap and wires as a guide.
-connect dwell tachometer black clip to ground, red clip to "minus" side of coil
-open the window in the distributor cap, and stick the allen wrench (with long handle) in the points adjust knob.
-connect battery ground cable to alternator bracket.
-remove vacuum hose from distributor, and plug that end of the hose
-with starter turning engine, turn allen wrench to adjust points so dwell reads 30.(book specs 29 to 31)
to set timing:
- with engine idling.
- the vacuum advance hose is still plugged.
- turn distributor CCW to attain maximum idle RPM, then CW to 200 RPM less than maximum
unplug vacuum advance hose. connect unplugged hose to vacuum advance on distributor.
with 9/16" wrench tighten distributor hold-down bolt.
if engine pings or rattles on acceleration:
-- disconnect and plug vacuum advance hose
-- connect dwell tachometer, black to ground , red to minus side of coil
-- loosen hold-down bolt and turn distributor CCW to max idle RPM, then CW to 300 RPM less than max idle RPM.
--tighten hold-down bolt to secure distributor
-- unplug and reconnect vacuum advance hose to distributor
Now let me tell you how we changed points in the shop:
-Since the engine will start if the points gap (which governs dwell angle, the number degrees of distributor rotation that the points remain closed) is close to .024", we'd install the point set and eyeball the gap to that.
-You can use a matchbook cover if yer eye is out of calibration.
-Then we'd crank it up and slowly turn the adjustment to the point where the engine began to stumble, then back the other way til it began to ping. The correct dwell would be -- within limits -- at the midpoint between the two.
-Timing can be done the same way mentioned previously but listening for the "ping and stumble" and setting midpoint between.
-When doing timing or dwell by this method, make the adjustment as smoothly as possible to make changes in engine sound more easily detectable. Keeping the distributor clamp screw just finger snug will make this easier when doing the timing.
-I toss this on the pile because there will be times when ya just do no have a dwell [meter/]tachometer in your pocket and have to change out ignition components that require adjustment. Get in tune with the pitch and sound of a properly tuned engine running at idle.
When I was doing this stuff regularly in my shop (I once was an automotive masochistic), I could by ear tell engine speed within 50 RPM -- no BS on this. If you are serious about this stuff, get intimate with your vehicle.
Packing '73-'86 GMC/Chevy 3/4 ton 4x4 front wheel bearings:
As always read instructions three times before you do anything else. You will need a metal pie plate and large magnet
- place magnet in center of pie plate.
- place small parts on magnet. (they will be there when you look for them)
special 3/8" drive socket for castellated nut inside hub
3/8" allen wrench
3/8" drive breaker bar
3/8 x 16 x 3" bolt
-wheel bearing grease
-spindle grease seal
-hub grease seals
-- chock rear wheel front and back
-- loosen front wheel lug nuts
-- raise front of truck on jack
-- place stands under axle housing
-- remove front wheel
-- with 3/8 allen wrench remove bolts that secure brake caliper
( place bolts on magnet in pie plate)
-- remove brake caliper and secure it without stretching or kinking brake hose
-- remove hub
-- with snap ring pliers remove snap ring
-- with special socket remove outer castellated nut
-- remove the washer (++ note that it has a pin that fits into a hole in the inner castellated nut)
-- remove inner castellated nut
-- remove rotor
-- remove the six nuts that secure the spindle
-- remove the spindle. it may be necessary to tap spindle with a brass hammer to remove it . do not use a steel hammer as that will mar the spindle-remove oil seal on inner side of rotor
-remove inner wheel bearing. wash it in solvent. dry it. apply new grease. put a golf ball size lump of grease in the palm of your left hand. place new bearing on the lump of grease. place right hand over left. squeeze hands together to force grease into the new bearing.
-place greased new bearing in the inner side of rotor. place new oil seal. with a brass hammer, or wooden handle very gently tap around the seal seating it.
-remove oil seal from spindle. remove old spindle bearing. grease and install new spindle bearing, install new spindle seal. A note on reassembly: Screw the 3/8x16x3" bolt into the threaded hole in the end of the axle. pull outward on the axle so you can get the snap ring on.
PS: Buy new wheel bearings and spindle bearings and seals to keep in reserve. Open each package. Grease the new bearings. Wrap them and put them back in the package. This will serve to keep them from rusting; and allow you to install greased bearings in the field. Keep the new bearings and seals in the toolbox on your truck.
Posted by vlad at 2:13 AM 2 comments
Friday, August 1, 2008
hydration in hot weather
I add 1/2 teaspoon Morton LiteSalt to my 2 liter backpack canteen
page 118 Let's Eat Right by Adelle Davis
Under normal circumstances, a healthy person runs little risk of deficiencies of sodium and chlorine. In extremely hot weather, however, so much salt can be lost through perspiration that death may occur.
Death from salt deficiency occured during the construction of Boulder Dam and similiar projects. During the blistering summer of 1933 I corresponded with an engineer who was working on Parker Dam. Each letter contained some such note as, "We had a wonderful cook but he died yesterday of sunstroke." The symptoms of sunstroke are now recognized as caused largely by loss of salt through perspiration.
A lack of salt causes symptoms varying in severity from mild lassitude, weariness, or hot-weather fatigue, common during heat waves, to heat cramp, heat exhaustion, and heatstroke, familiar to those who work in iron foundries, furnace or boiler rooms, and industrial plants such as steel or paper mills. Even persons who play tennis or take similar exercise during hot weather may suffer from heat stroke.
Persons working in extremely hot weather are often advised to take a salt tablet with each drink of water.
page 187 there are three nutrients - potassium, sodium and chlorine which we need in quite large amounts. Sodium and chlorine are supplied by tablet salt. Potassium is widely occuring in ........
Morton LiteSalt 11 oz about 99c
1 oz = 6 teaspooons
11 oz = 66 teaspoons= 76,560 mg sodium, and 89,760 mg potassium
1/4 teaspoon serving
290 mg sodium
340 mg potassium
40% iodine
If you put one teaspoon Morton LiteSalt per gallon of water, an 8 oz serving will contain 72 mg Sodium, and 85 mg Potassium.
8 oz of Gatorade
contains 110 mg sodium, 30 mg potassium. (per Gatorade label.)
Posted by vlad at 6:12 AM 4 comments
survivor/resister minimum gear
If reduced to mininum gear I could carry on my mountain bike with airless tires a rifle, 200 loaded rounds, 50 cal kit for 500 reloads
and forty pounds other gear without which life might be short but grim -- poncho, hammock, sleepbag, silnylon tarp, cast net, trot line,
cookpot, ax etc.
Ranges are short in the piney woods of East Texas. Subsonic handloads are quiet. They will be lucky if they do not catch me.
..............................................................................
Original Lee Loader (sizes only the neck)
http://tinyurl.com/6dhhv6
OLL tutorial
http://tinyurl.com/22eop8
Reloading with Lee Loader video http://tinyurl.com/66nd82
RCBS hand priming tool
http://tinyurl.com/2xgufc
in addition to bench mounted tools,
I have 50 cal ammo can kits for 30-06, 30-30 and 45-70.
Each 50 can holds Original Lee Loader, RCBS hand priming tool, and powder, primers and bullets for 500 reloads.
Posted by vlad at 4:55 AM 0 comments
Monday, July 14, 2008
Haitian Zebco
You need not carry a rod and reel in your BOB.
You can easily improvise. I prefer to use braided
50 lb test spyderwire which is as thin as BrandX
ten lb test line.
Wrap the line around a bottle or Coke can. Take
care that you securely tie the end of the
line to the can.
With a little practice you can cast a lure or baited hook
almost as far, and as accurately, as with rod and reel.
To retrieve, let the incoming line run through one hand.
With the other hand move the bottle as if stirring the air
with it and the line will wrap on the bottle.
Posted by vlad at 6:12 AM 1 comments
Friday, June 27, 2008
quick and dirty shelter
http://tinyurl.com/29xojl
Posted by vlad at 6:43 AM 1 comments
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
kit
minimum kit in day pack, or in fishing vest with pouch on back
--knit wool watch cap
--leather palm work gloves
--lightweight GI hooded poncho
--survival blanket with hole so you can wear it as a liner under the poncho (this is the heavyweight blanket, threee grommets on each long side, aluminized on one side and OD green on the other side. It folds up the size of a magazine.)
--flashlight,
--polaroid sunglasses
--bandana
--multi-tool
--extra tea candles inside candle lantern
--map and compass
--whistle
--knife and sharpener
-- three Bic propane cigarette lighters
--magnesium firestarter with 3 inch hacksaw blade and GI P-38 can opener attached
--canteen(s) and water purification tabs.
--small fishing kit
--food (I usually carry two cans corned beef, or four cans smoked kippers)
-- 4oz morton litesalt
I assume that you are wearing a large bore sidearm or carrying a rifle.
If you have to RON outofdoors away from camp select a suitable tree or rock to lean back against, clear all combustibles from the ground for ten feet in all directions, insulate your butt from the ground, put on liner with poncho and put lighted candle lantern between your feet where heat will rise inside the poncho.
The Hilton it aint but it'll keep you alive.
NOTE as soon as you realize that you are lost sit down, thinks things over, check your map, take a drink of water, eat if you are hungry. Relax. If it is already late afternoon plan to spend the night near that location.
Posted by vlad at 10:25 AM 3 comments
Take-down survival rifles
the CoPilot 45-70 sells for only $1980.00
http://www.wildwestguns.com/copilot.html
You could have a plain black zipper case
made for your take-down rifle.
One screw holds the shoulder stock on
Marlin 336 30-30 and 1895S 45-70.
With shoulder stock removed:
336 30-30 20" barrel OAL is 28"
1895S 45-70 22" barrel OAL is 30"
cut 45-70 barrel to 16-1/2" .......
OAL is 24-1/2"
I wondered about MV from 16" barrel
see Lyman 47 reloading manual
Thompson-Contender 45-70 16" barrel
cast bullet #457193 405 grains
RX7 33.0gr MV 1386 fps 41.0 gr MV 1578 fps.
IMR-3031 34.0gr 1061 fps 38.5 gr 1304 fps
I suppose it takes about the same
amount of time to assemble the Co-Pilot
as to install the screw that secures
the stock on 1895S and 336.
My favourite take-down rifle is still
the Garand 30-06. Remove trigger housing
group. It separates into two major parts:
barrelled action OAL 32" stock 30"
You may remove one round from the enbloc
clip of eight. Load clip of seven rounds.
Depress rounds and allow bolt to close on
an empty chamber. Disassemble rifle and
store it in black zipper case. Reassemble
rifle, cycle the bolt to chamber a round
and you are ready to shoot.
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Can you throw a castnet?
Who needs a castnet?? I DO!!!
It is worth carrying in SERE.
The man in the first video is a great instructor.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOUkj2h2LjI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzQgh0sIibI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhZWLQLiowI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2eSphNRgfM
Posted by vlad at 4:47 AM 0 comments
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Got Leatherman?
I carry a few sine qua non without which life might be short
but grim. In rear pocket Leatherman Wave sheath five
fishhooks and 30' braided 50 lb test Spiderwire (thin as
BrandX 10 lb); and in side pocket a magfirestarter.
Two MFS for price of one. Cut 1/4"x1"x3" MFS in two lengthwise.
File trench in edge. Hold lighter flints in pliers. Wire brush
to remove coating. Secure flints with JB Weld.
Posted by vlad at 6:37 PM 1 comments
Monday, June 1, 2009
Lyman 310 tailgate reloads
Here is how to load with Lyman 310.
http://www.lasc.us/Brennan_Lyman310Tool.htm
I have Lyman 310 tools for 30-06 and 45-70 kitchen table and tailgate handloads.
http://www.cnyauctions.com/the310shop.htm
[http://www.cnyauctions.com/THE310SHOP-310 Logo.jpg] The 310 Shop
IDEAL, LYMAN IDEAL & LYMAN 310 RELOADING HAND TOOLS
Rick Morrill
4237 Boxwood Drive
Denton, Texas 76208
940-271-1222
[mailto:The310Shop@verizon.net?subject=the310shop.com]
UPDATED 11/07/2008 11:36:27 AM
Now Accepting PayPal!
Please [mailto:The310Shop@verizon.net?subject=the310shop.com] before ordering or sending payment! Sorry, e-Checks NOT accepted!
Mail Order List: 11-01-2008
New 310 Die Sets: Made New Exclusively by the 310 Shop. These are in the original 5 Die configuration.
1. New 41 Long Colt 310 Dies. .........................................................................................................................$85.00
2. New 45 Colt (Long Colt) 310 Dies.................................................................................................................$85.00
3. New 45 S&W Schofield 310 Dies...................................................................................................................$85.00
4. New 25-20 Winchester Repeater. .................................................................................................................$85.00
5. New 32-40 Winchester/Marlin 310 Dies..........................................................................................................$85.00
6. New 38-55 310 Dies.......................................................................................................................................$85.00
25-20 Single Shot 30 Remington 303 Savage 35 Winchester Self-Loader 351 Winchester Self-Loader
New 310 Steel Handled Sets: Made New Exclusively by the 310 Shop. These are in the original 5 Die configuration.
Steel 310 Tools (Handles) are "Caliber Stamped".
Special Size Tool and Dies. Larger diameter Dies than the standard 310 Tool.
.....
7. New 41 Long Colt Steel Handled Set. Steel Tool is stamped "41 LC". No Box...........................................$185.00
8. New 32-40 Steel Handled Set. Steel Tool stamped "32-40". No Box...........................................................$185.00
9. New 44-77 Steel Handled Set. Steel Tool stamped "44-77". No Box...........................................................$185.00
10. New 45-70 Steel Handled Set. Steel Tool stamped "45-70". No Box.........................................................$185.00
11. New 50-70 Steel Handled Sets. Steel Tool is stamped "50-70". No Box.....................................................$265.00
12. New 50-90 Steel Handled Sets. Steel Tool is stamped "50-90". No Box....................................................$265.00
(Call or e-mail for Quotes on any other OBSOLETE 310 Caliber Handled Sets & Die Sets)
Specials:
13. New 7.62x39 Soviet 310 Dies. Made with 300 Savage Dies and New # 41 Primer........................................$85.00
14. "J" to ”X" Shell Holder Adapter, (Converts Tru-Line Jr. Press to use Standard Shell Holders)…….….….$17.00
15. "J" Style Shell Holders. Many, Email for availability....................................................................................$17.00
310 DIE SETS: Obsolete, Rare, & Out-of-Production, Calibers $70.00
(Sets consist of Dies & include Shell Adapter)
Handgun:
22 WCF 22 Remington Jet 221 Remington Fireball 256 Winchester Magnum
30 Luger (7.65x21mm) 30 Mauser (7.63mm) 32 ACP/32 Auto (7.65mm) *** 32 S&W ***
380 Auto (9mm Kurz) 9 Luger (9x19mm Parabellum) 38 Auto/38 Super 38 S&W 38 Spl/357 Mag 38-40 Winchester
41 Rem Mag 44 Russian/44 Special 44-40 (44 WCF) 45 Auto (45 ACP)
45 Auto Rim 455 Webley ***
*** Out-of-Stock ***
Rifle:
218 Bee 219 Wasp 219 Zipper 22 Hornet
22 K Hornet 22-250 Varmint 22 Savage High Power 220 Swift
222 Remington 222 Remington Magnum 223 Remington 225 Winchester
240 Weatherby Mag 243 Winchester 244 Remington 25-20 (25WCF)
6 mm Remington 250-3000 (250 Savage) 25-06 25-35
257 Roberts (257 Remington) 6.5 Japanese 6.5 Mannlicher 6.5x55 Swedish
6.5 Remington Magnum 264 Winchester Mag 270 Winchester 7 mm Mauser (7x57)
7.61 Sharp & Hart 280 Remington 284 Win Magnum *** 7 mm Remington Mag
30 M1 Carbine 30 Remington 30 Caliber Mag 300 Savage
300 Win Mag 300 H&H Magnum 300 Weatherby Magnum 303 Savage ***
303 British 30-40 Krag (30 U.S.) 308 Winchester 308 Norma Mag
30-06 (30 Gov’t) 7.62 Russian Rimmed 8 mm Mauser (8x57) 32 Special Winchester
32-20 (32WCF)*** 7.7 Japanese 338 Win Mag *** 348 Winchester ***
35 Remington 35 Winchester 350 Remington Mag 358 Win Mag ***
358 Norma Magnum *** 375 H&H Magnum 40-65 44-40 WCF
444 Marlin *** 45-70 (45Govt) 458 Winchester
*** Out-of-Stock ***
310 HANDLED SETS IN BOX: (Set Box holds Handles & complete Die Set.)
310 Boxed Sets, with Steel Handles, were mfg. from 1947 to 1957 under the name "Lyman Ideal"....$160.00 each
In 1958 the new "Alloy" Handles were introduced and sold in "Boxed Sets" until around 1972...........$130.00 each
Please click on image to enlarge!
http://www.cnyauctions.com/THE310SHOP-1947 310 Set.jpghttp://www.cnyauctions.com/THE310SHOP-1957 310 Set.jpghttp://www.cnyauctions.com/THE310SHOP-New 310 Dies.jpg
16. 218 Bee with Steel Handles marked "218 BEE" (Orange Set Box.)
17. 219 Wasp with Alloy Handles (Black & Gray Boxed Set)
18. 22 Jet with alloy handles. (orange Set Box)
19. 22 Hornet with Steel Handles marked "22 HORNET". (Orange Set Box.)
20. 22 Savage High Power with Steel Handles marked "22 H P". (Orange Set Box)
21. 220 Swift with Steel Handles marked "220". (Orange Set Box.)
22. 222 Remington with Steel Handles marked "222". (Orange Set Box.)
23. 222 Rem Mag with Alloy Handles. (Black & Gray Set Box.)
24. 223 Remington with Alloy Handles. (Black & Gray Set Box.)
25. 22-250 Varmint with Alloy Handles. (Black & Gray Set Box.)
26. 225 Winchester with Alloy Handles. (("Transitional" Orange Set Box. Diagonal writing.)
27. 243 Winchester with Alloy Handles. (Black & Gray Set Box).
28. 250-3000 (250 Savage) with Alloy Handles. ("Transitional" Orange Set Box. Diagonal writing.)
29. 25-35 with Alloy Handles (Black & Gray Set Box)
30. 6MM/244 with Alloy Handles (Orange Set Box)
31. 6.5 x 257 with Alloy Handles (Orange Set Box)
32. 250 Savage with Steel Handles marked "250 SAV". (Orange Set Box.)
33. 7 M/M Mauser (7x57) with Steel Handles marked "7mm". (Orange Set Box.)
34. 7.7 Japanese with Steel Handles marked "7.7. Jap". (Orange Set Box.)
35. 257 Roberts (257 Remington) with Steel Handles marked "257". (Orange Set Box.)
36. 270 Winchester with Steel Handles marked "270". (Orange Set Box.)
37. 280 Remington with Alloy Handles. ("Transitional" Orange Set Box. Diagonal writing.)
38. 30 Mauser with Steel Handles marked "30 MAUSER" (Orange Set Box)
39. 300 Savage with Alloy Handles. (Black & Gray Striped Box.)
40. 30-30 Winchester with Alloy Handles. (Black & Gray Striped Set Box.)
41. 30 M-1 Carbine with Alloy Handles (Orange Set Box)
42. 308 Winchester with Alloy Handles. (Black & Gray Striped Set Box.)
43. 30-06 Springfield with Steel Handles marked "30-06". (Orange Set Box.)
44. 30-06 Springfield with Alloy Handles. (Black & Gray Set Box.
45. 303 British with Alloy Handles. (Black & Gray Set Box)
46. 303 British with Steel Handles marked 303 British. (Orange Set Box)
47. 338 Winchester Mag with Alloy Handles (Orange Set Box)
48. 350 Rem Mag with Alloy "IDEAL" Handles. (Early 1960's) (Orange Set Box.)
49. 22 Remington Jet with Alloy Handles. (Orange Set Box.)
50. 380 Auto with Alloy Handles. (Black & Gray Set Box.)
51. 9 M/M with Steel Handles marked "9 mm". (Orange Set Box.)
52. 38 Spec/357 Mag with Alloy Handles. (Black & Gray Striped Set Box.)
53. 44 Spec / 44 Mag with Alloy Handles. (Orange "Transitional" Set Box. Diagonal writing.)
54. 44-40 with Alloy Handles. (Black & Gray Set Box.)
55. 45 Colt with Steel handles marked "45 COLT" (Orange Set Box)
56. 45 Auto with Steel Handles marked "45 ACP". (Orange Set Box.)
57. 45 Auto with Alloy Handles. (Black & Gray Striped Set Box.)
IDEAL # 3, # 10, & # 6 Sets: Sets Include Dies and Handles (Tool).
(# 3 Sets for "Rimmed" Cartridges. # 10 Sets for "Rimless" Cartridges)
# 3 & # 10 IDEAL Sets were made from approx. 1914 to 1946. Few were made during the War years........$160.00 each
# 6 IDEAL Sets were made for Larger Calibers from Approx. 1900 to 1925………………………................$160.00 each
44. IDEAL # 10 Set in 30 Luger, (7.65x21mm). Nickel Handles marked "30 Luger". Handles are 95%+ shiny Nickel,
and in excellent shape. Newer 310 Dies in 30 Luger were added to these Handles to make functional Set.
NO BOX.
45. IDEAL # 10 Set in 38 Colt Auto. Nickel Handles marked "38 Colt Auto". Handles are 60%+ and in good, usable
shape. Newer 310 Dies in 38 Auto/38 Super have been added to make this a completely functional Set.
NO BOX.
46. IDEAL # 10 Set in 45 ACP. Nickel Handles marked "45 ACP". Handles are 60%+ and in good, functional shape. Newer
310 Dies have been added to this Tool to make it a completely functional Set. NO BOX.
HANDLES:
Steel Handles.......................................$75.00
Alloy Handles (Large or Small).......$ 60.00
Custom Tools: Standard 310 Size - Our Tool.....$100.00 (Any Caliber) Your Tool....$50.00
Special Size - Our Tool..............$125.00 (Any Caliber) Your Tool....$85.00
STANDARD 310 DIE PARTS: $17.00
Muzzle Resizing Dies (Neck Sizers) Combination Muzzle Resizing / Decapping Dies
Bullet Seating Dies. Decapping Dies (Universal)
Priming Dies. Expander Dies with Expander Plug.
Your choice of Lock Ring Style, (Skinny Ribbed without Set Screw, Ribbed and Knurled.)
SPECIAL SIZE 310 DIE PARTS: $45.00
Muzzle Resizing Dies (Neck Sizers) Bullet Seating Dies
Decapping Dies (Universal) Priming Dies.
Expander Dies with Expander Plug.
Your choice of Lock Ring Style, (Skinny Ribbed without Set Screw, Ribbed and Knurled.)
(Call or Email for quotes on Custom Sets and Calibers)
310 Shell Adapters: $10.00 Die Adapters: Standard 310...$10.00
(Screw-In Shell Guide) Special Size...$15.00
(Use 310 Dies in standard press)
Lock Rings: Standard 310: $2.00 each
Special Size: $5.00 each
Bullet Sizing Dies: $17.00 (310 Die for Sizing Lead Bullets)
We are currently making these ourselves. In any diameter you wish. These are "Hand Made" one-at-a-time. Make sure you order the size you want. (You should order the same diameter as the Bullet you intend to shoot.)
Please click on image to enlarge!
http://www.cnyauctions.com/THE310SHOP-Bullet Sizer.jpg
Shell Resizing Dies: $20.00 (Full Length Shell Resizer, Tap-In style) Email for availability.
Kake Kutters: $17.00 These are New, Exact Replicas of Lyman Kake Kutters used to cut Lube off Cast Bullets.
We make these ourselves. In any diameter you wish. These are "Hand Made" one-at-a-time. Make sure you order the size you want. (You should order the same diameter as the Bullet you intend to shoot.)
(These are by Diameter and not Caliber. Order as .454 not 45 Colt, or .457 not 45-70, etc.)
Please click on image to enlarge!"
http://www.cnyauctions.com/The310Shop-6-Kake Kutter.jpg
Miscellaneous Parts: Email or Write for availability.
Seating Screws, Expander Plugs, Decapping Rods & Pins, Extractor Claws, Extractor Springs, Extractor Roll Pins, and Lock Rings.
PAYMENT
I accept Person Checks, Cashier's Checks, Money Orders, or PayPal. (Sorry, PayPal "E-Checks" NOT accepted!) Payment is expected within 10 days of the date you place your order. If not received, your item is then subject to re-sale. Orders for Custom Made Sets and pieces will not begin until full payment is received.
SHIPPING: $6.00
Actual cost if outside the US. Larger orders, or heavier than average 4-5 Die Sets orders, will be actual cost. Insurance is available at buyer's request and payment.
NOTE: Out-of-Country & Overseas Shipping. Everything is now shipped Express Mail, with a full Custom's Tag. Approximately $28.00 per Set.
I buy, sell, and trade (except for USED modern caliber die sets,) especially for calibers listed as ***Out-Of-Stock***.
If you see something you want, please let me know ASAP, so I can hold it for you.
Inventory changes daily, and many of the pieces are rarely seen, or very hard to find.
If you don't see what you want e-mail me so I can add your wants to the “WANTS LIST”.
I especially like rare, unusual, and large calibers.
SHOOT STRAIGHT...RICK MORRILL
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Food insurance aka tree crops
[Practical Survival magazine Feb-Mar issue 1992]
Food Insurance by Harmon Seaver
Planting a policy against tough times
They're rioting in Africa
They're starving in Spain
There's hurricanes in Florida
and Texas needs rain.
They're freezing in Siberia
There's strife in Iran
What nature doesn't do to us
Will be done by our fellow man.
Sound familiar? Even if you don't rememeber the Kingston Trio hit of the 60s, its message rings out endlessly on the front page of any daily newspaper.
Try another headline which caught my eye recently - "El Nino is back!" Depending upon your locale, and the subsequent bane or blessing dropped in your lap by the last advent of that awesome atmospheric aberration, this declaration might be just enough to shiver your timbers. Or at least give pause to your currnet plans for next summers's garden.
Not only are we unable to control natural (or man-made) disasters, but we have little luck even predicting them. World-shaking phenomena like El Nino ( killing more than 1,100 people and causing an estimated $8.7 million in damage during its appearance) ebb and flow unhindered around the globe. Climatologists are just beginning to correlate the manifold vagaries of this global weather abnormality and have yet to really get a handle on it. Predictability seems unlikely.
Occuring on average four or five years, El Nino might recur in two years or not in ten. Its effect is definitely worldwide; while causing torrential rains and flooding in one area, this bizarre
weather pattern concurrently brings devastating drought, famine and forest fires to another. Or opposite effects for the same period in subsequent cycles.
Airborne particulate matter -- volcanic smoke, dust and ash; smoke from industry, forest fires and slash-and-burn agriculture; dust from cleared land; exhaust from cars and aircraft -- can have a decided effect upon our weather, and consequently, our lives. Precisely what, however, is somewhat undecided. Climatologists and others debate whether these minute particles in the upper stratosphere warm our atmosphere by contributing to the "greenhouse effect" -- primarily caused by increasing CO2 levels (up more than 10% since 1850) - or cool the planet by reflecting and blocking incoming sunlight.
This latter scenario seems to hold the most water. Strong archaeological evidence suggests periods of intensified volcanic activity may have nurtured glaciers and triggered ice ages. Around the world, there has been a rise in volcanic activity since 1950, compared to the half century previous..
From 1850 to about 1940, particularly the Northern Hemisphere, went through a period of significant warming according to the National Oceanographoic and Atmospheric Administration.
But since 1940 there has been a distinct drop. England's annual growing season shrank by nine or ten days between 1950 and 1966. Sea ice returned to Iceland's coasts after more than forty years virtual absence.
The only surety about weather is that it changes, and we have to change with it. When it rains we put on raincoats; when it freezes - longjohns. Likewise our gardening techniques are adapted to various weather patterns and seasons. Raised beds and plastic row covers work wonders in areas with cold wet soils, while irrigation becomes a must in sandy soil and periods of drought. Different types and varieties of crops can hold the key to success in climatic extremes.
In this age of uncertainty, prudent American families find it comforting to stock their larders with months, even years, worth of canned or freeze-dried foods. After all, agrarian societies developed from hunting and gathering tribes because agriculture is not only more energy-efficient, but provides additional security. Modern gardeners practice their art for often these very same reasons -- cost-efficiency and protection of both supply and organic quality.
Crop failures due to events beyond our control do occur however, and food supplies can become erratic or nonexistent given our current climate of social and economic uncertainty.
Even the master gardener, with the most well-developed plot of ground, cannot cope with some of the bizarre aberrations of El Nino, abnormally low temperatures from a nearby Mount St Helens, or the exigencies of war and civil unrest. In reality, most of our common food crops are relatively delicate, compared to wild plants. And if crop failure is extensive enough, those dependent upon commercial food supplies become desperate -- tremendous social upheaval results. The prudent gardener would do well to prepare now for such an eventuality by literally planting against misfortune.
Nature has provided a profusion of extremely hardy food plants. Compared to sissified garden and farm crops which needed to be pampered and coddled every step of the way, native food species (especially the perennials, trees and shrubs) are super plants. True many would cringe at the prospect of living all winter on a diet of beans from the Siberian pea shrub, Jerusalem artichoke tubers or duckweeds. But we'd live and we might even come up with some tasty recipes.
Not to suggest that everyone rush out and begin planting their hard won deep humus to shrubs, forgetting the okra, squash and melons. But most of us have some spare dirt, perhaps around the periphery of our yards. Some, like myself, have acres to root around in any way we please.
A hedge, just one form of our rainy-day crop might take, can provide privacy, windbreaks, shade, wildlife cover and feed; or even a secure, stock-proof fence. All the while growing bigger and sturdier, ready to supply your family with emergency rations should the need ever come. Think of it as food insurance.
Can these trees, shrubs and hardy perennials really produce enough feedstock in small-area plantings to provide true alternative resources? Well, here's what Earle Barnhart said in Tree Crops, an article published in the Journal of The New Alchemists: "Tree crops can match row crops in both protein and carbohydrate yield per acre. Modern hybrid-grain crops such as corn, wheat, and soybeans only outproduce tree crops such as Persian Walnut, filberts, Chinese chestnuts, honey locust and black walnut if they are highly subsidized with fossil-fuel inputs such as pest protection, weed removal, nutrient enrichment and constant, adequate water."... "large fields benefit from being sheltered; the approximate 5% used for windbreaks is well-compensated by higher productivity from the remainder. Tree products such as acorns and honey-locust pods can match corn and oats pound-for-pound as winter feed supplements for livestock." Or us.
"Other woody plants do even better, such as mesquite. This small deciduous tree, native to our Southwest, is so hardy some folks claim it is related to the coyote -- indestructible.! Cows relish its seedpods, and so did the Indians. Pods, minus the seeds, contain much sucrose, about 8-12% protein and are rich in calcium, iron and phosphorus. Mesquite beans which must be ground for human consumption, contain a whopping 60% protein." In fact the whole tree was of vital importance to early natives of the Southwest. The mesquite gives shade, building material, firewood, food and its fibruous bark can be woven into fabric. The honey mesquite in particular is a favourite of honey bees, hence its name: and both it and the velvet mesquite exhibit exceedingly attractive foliage, often planted as ornamentals.
Like the eastern locust, mesquite is a nitrogen-fixing legume. And also like the locust it has many sharp spines, making it ideal for trimming into a dense man-or livestock-proof hedge. Growing to 20 feet tall, this plant provides security in more ways than one. Prowlers or potential looters can easily be disheartened by such a barrier surrounding a house. Nor would its wealth be evident to the gaze of the average brigand searching for food stocks and other valuables.
Honey and mesquite locust grow well south of northern Oklahoma, southern Colorado, Utah and central Nevada. They both tolerate a wide range of conditions: 100-150 days of frost per year, up to 30 inches of rain (or as little as 6 inches), and they grow in sand, gravel, rocks, loam or clay; with either alkaline, saline, acid or neutral soils.
Mesquites withstand full desert heat, and during drought conditions they reduce their transpiration rate and water useage. Growth declines or halts, and the trees enter a resting mode, which they may maintain without permanent ill effects for long periods. Mature mesquite is also fire-survivable - the tops may burn but dormant buds will survive underground to send up new shoots.
Of course, while the mesquite might even survive a nuclear blast in its native area, sub-zero Minnesota winter would be too much for it. So for colder climes, a better choice would be the Siberian pea shrub. Hardy to -50F degrees, it approaches the mesquite in drought resistance.
If trimmed as a hedge, the Siberian pea shrub grows into a spiny, impenetrable 24-foot-tall buffer covered with nutritious seedpods. The young green pods are eaten as a vegetable, while the mature seeds contain 36% protein and are used in recipes calling for dried beans or peas. If protected from livestock while small, pea shrubs will form an excellent cattle-and-man-proof fence, providing nourishing livestock and wildlife feed and cover - all the while waiting to serve you with life-sustaining fare in hard times.
Another similar leguminous tree is the honey locust, named for the sweetness of its pods and its attractiveness to honey bees. Here again, once shaped into a dense hedge, honey locust makes a formidable fence, provides a generous bounty of tasty, nutritious pods and seeds for both animals and man, and is an attractive addition to any yard.
These three trees also are excellent candidates for the poultry yard, dropping their seedpods in late fall and eary winter to provide superb fodder you don't have to haul from the feed store. Many find the mulberry to be outstanding in this regard also. A fast-growing tree, the mature white (or Russian) mulberry can yield 400 pounds of collectible fruit, plus additional amounts taken by birds and squirrels. Dried mulberries are a staple in Afghanistan. Netting is spread on the ground under the trees, and over a 30 day period about 75% of the fruit is caught, which amounts to over five and one half tons per acre. US Dept Agriculture analyzed dried pulp from Afghan mulberries and found it contaied 70.01% invert sugar, 1.2% sucrose, 2.59% protein 1.6% fat and no starch.
The Afghans grind their dried berries and almonds, but the Japanese find even more edible produce on the mulberry tree. They eat the tender young shoots and leaves, cooked or raw.
While their white mulberry is not native to the United States, it may grow hardy and drought-resistant all across our country. Also, there are US-native species such as the Texas mulberry for the southwestern states, and the red mulberry. These trees are also trimmed for hedges, either alone or with other species.
Many other fruit and nut trees can add significantly to our larder, and some are very handy -- almost unfailing within their range. Because of size and formidable root systems, trees and shrubs generally have an edge over their punier garden brethren. But there are many perennial herbs, forbs and grasses which do nearly as well, bringing a quicker return on your investment. While most trees take years to become profitable, perennials can provide a substantial harvest their first year.
One of the most remarkable plants is the Jerusalem artichoke. Widely used by early American Indians, this native is extremely hardy throughout the country, and generally disease-and-pest-free. It spreads rapidly -- some consider this a problem -- and is marvelously productive. Yield is about 15 tons to the acre, five times more than potatoes, and once planted it is with you forever. An established plot crowds out out all competitiors (it helps to rototill the plot every year or so) and so needs no weeding.
This tall relative of the sunflower can be cut more than once as fodder, and Jerusalem artichokes have also found success as a fuel crop - fermented and distilled into alcohol. Its tubers - relatively high in protein, potassium and B vitamins, are also very high in a form of sugar called levulose. Tubers can be left in the ground for hog pasture, or just dug as needed, since freezing does them no harm. Even tiny slices of the tuber seem to sprout the following spring, assuring an endles supply.
Chickory, dandelion, and winter cress are a trio which should be on everyone's "must" list for early crops, and for forcing in the basement during winter. Some might wince at the thought of actually planting "weeds" in their garden, but when you want hardiness - they don't come much tougher.
Dandelion's leaves have four to five times as much protein, fat, carbohydrates, minerals and vitamins as does lettuce; chickory is much the same, and both can be eaten raw or cooked. Roots can also be cooked like turnips or parsnips. Winter cress is even hardier, and sold commerically in some areas. Winter cress contains three times as much vitamin C as in equal amounts of orange juice, and as much vitamin A.
But why bother planting things which may be found wild almost everywhere? Simply because cultivation greatly enhances productivity and ease of harvest. Remember, our ancestors switched from gathering to growing for security and efficiency.
One more addition to our survival garden is comfrey. This lush green plant seems unkillable - as many have found when it spreads to where it isn't wanted. The early leaves are good pot herbs, and quite healthful. Up to 32% protein, with many vitamins, minerals, and a healing drug called allantoin is found in comfrey leaves and roots.
Allantoin is a valuable remedy for external and internal ulcers, and the only common source for the chemical is the fetal-ammoniac sac. Comfrey will grow in wet or dry climate, in the poorest soil. Its roots may reach down 20 feet or more to extract nutrients from subsoil, and comfrey can produce 60 tons per acre of green material. It is also very frost-resistant, being one of the first plants to come out in the spring, and one of the last to die in fall.
For those in dry climates, a necessary adjunct to the mesquite would be the tepary bean, long cultivated by southwestern Indian tribes. Although not a perennial, tepary is a true desert plant, often maturing after only one or two rains. The tepary bean is the most drought and heat-adapted food crop known. Far from being fit only for the palate of some grizzled desert rat, the tepary contains more protein than most commercial beans, and is mild flavoured and better tasting to boot.
Waterlogged? Enjoy the luxury of your own pond? Or even the possibility of making a shallow one? Then you can increase your organic food supply's stability and security one hundredfold. Homesteaders confined to a small city yard can still opt for a pond ala Rodale aquaculture experiments - a 12-foot plastic swimming pool. Work done by the New Alchemy Institute in this vein, with small-scale indoor aquaculture systems, is also worth investigating. Those fortunates who possess adequate land and water may well hold the key to a veritable garden of Eden.
Standard procedure for setting up a new household in some part of China involves digging a pit to mine clay needed for adobe blocks used in homebuilding. Afterwards, this pit is filled with water, and fish stocked therein. Pigs and chickens are usually penned beside or over the pond, and their manure used to fertilize the water, creating an algae bloom which feeds the herbivorous fish.
Subsequently, highly fertile water from this pond irrigates a garden which feeds the family --
and the livestock -- so energy flows circularly, thus efficiently. A variant practice involves two ponds, each used alternately as fishpond-garden-fishpond. Or even with a third pond used for a rice paddy.
Whatever your aquatic possibilities or proclivities, pond culture opens a window of opportunity unparalleled in dry-land gardening. Even a shallow pond or paddy growing only cattails represents a backup food supply unequalled by any known farm crop. Here again, American Indians made wide use of this plant -- eating young cattail shoots, rootlets, flour made from its root stock, and even its pollen.
The Cattail Research Center at Syracuse University found yields of 140 tons of rhizomes per acre is possible -- with 30% starch content, this converts to 32 tons of dry flour. Rather incredible. If you do not favor the prospect of cattail flour three times a day, think how many hogs can be fed on 140 tons of starchy rhizomes.
Open your window of options a little more by deepening the pond. Wild rice, while not really a perennial, acts like one by automatically reseeding itself each year. With more protein and slightly higher fat-content than domestic rice, wild rice played a substantial role in filling dietary requirements of those American Indians blessed with it. Hardy up to northern Canada, freezing even to the floor of the pond will not harm it. However, yearly cultivation of the pond bottom or flowing water are necessary to control the spread of other aquatics. A strong erosional and/or depositional force of water current is nature's plow.
Rice will grow in as little as 2 inches of water or as deep as 2-3 feet, but will not tolerate large fluctuations, especially increases. Slowly decreasing water levels, all the way to the wet mud, are fine. Soil can be sand, gravel or mud. However, deep, oozy sediments of great organic content, where there is no current to stir up and oxygenate the substrata, will be too anaerobic to grow rice. Such environs suit cattails fine, however.
Deepen the hole a bit more, or at least one end of it, and fish farming becomes possible. At least 8 feet of depth is needed for overwintering in cold climates, unless there is an adequate flow of water to stop ice from forming solid all the way down. Warm-season-only fish crops require much less depth, of course, with three feet being quite efficient. Aeration is another possibility, but this adds complication, and we're talking about foolproof food here.
Another energy give-and-take can occur by "planting" duckweeds on your pond's surface. These tiny water plants are super durable, even living in the far north. Under good conditions they can double their biomass in three days to one week. Raked from a pond surface and fed to pigs and chickens - or people - duckweeds provide amazing amounts of food. And, of course, ducks forage their own. Duck potatoes, of the arrowhead family, are another aquatic edible, once a staple food, by Indian tribes and waterfowl alike.
The list could go on and on, but my point is made. The orthodox forms of agriculture we are most accustomed to are not the only ones - nor are they the most efficient or reliable. The idea of a traditional American farm as the ultimate in productivity and advanced technique holds little water in reality. Nor are customary food crops able to provide us with true nutritional security, however much we enjoy their taste.
Our agricultural system, our flagging economy - indeed, the whole entity - appears more fragile every day. We think of America as a corncopia of plenty, but how many of us realize that no city in our land has more than a three-day supply of food on hand at any given time?
El Nino is coming - El Chichon is rumbling. Start today to plant a hedge against misfortune.
Harmon Seaver is the author of The Coming Holocaust and has written for Organic Gardening and Fur-FIsh-Game magazines.
Posted by vlad at 8:53 AM 2 comments
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Eskimo house
www.duffyslaw.com/current14.htm
My life with the Eskimo Stefansson
excerpt ESKIMO HOUSING
Primitive dwellings using a simple seal oil lamp maintain temperatures between 60 and 70 degrees farenheit on the coldest winter night of fifty below zero.
Eskimo houses were constructed with a hole in the roof to allow in light. The hole which was most often left open was covered with Bear intestine. The base of the house was five to six foot thick made of earth and sod and tapered and thinned out towards the top which was about six foot square. The top had about six inches of earth on it. The center of the house was about nine feet high and the walls at the edge were about five feet high. The opening on the roof was about three foot square. 3 or 4 lamps burned continuously and one of the most important duties of the wife was to make sure they didnt smoke or go out. The entrance to the house was a twenty to forty foot shed-covered tunnel about four feet lower than the floor of the house.
The cold air in the tunnel would not rise into the house which was kept warm by the four lamps at a temperature of sixty to seventy degrees fahrenheit even when the outside temperature was fifty below zero! They would sit with only shorts on in the house. So they would be bare below the knees and above the waist. After five months Stefansson began to enjoy the boiled fish they would eat for supper. The entryway and the hole in the roof were kept open most of the time, but especially during cooking. The only time the entryway would be covered would be to prevent a baby from falling into it or puppies coming in from outside and this was only rarely. Stefansson would usually sleep next to the tunnel entryway to get more fresh air. Each corner of the room had an elevation for sleeping that was covered by skins as was the floor. The houses at first smelled bad but soon you realized that it was the cooking of food that gave the smell to the house. The lamp is a halfmoon soapstone about two or three inches deep kept almost full and the wick is a powdered ivory (walrus), sawdust, dried moss ground in the fingers, manila rope from the whalers with a strand taken and chopped into tiny pieces. The wick is made from the powder laid in a strip which the oil soaks. A piece of fat is suspended over the flame and when the wick dries the flame gets brighter and hence hotter and more fat drips into the halfmoon lampbowl which then fills and wets the wick more which cuts down the height of the flame and this works by itself for about six or eight hours.
Stefansson claimed that the natural ingenuity, friendliness, charitableness of the eskimo was a universal trait of man and that there were really no superior or inferior races which appears to contradict a statement he made about the indians compared to the eskimo when he first encountered the eskimo after having been exposed to the indians. (This puts me in mind of the oft used phrase of Abraham Lincoln the family of man, DHD Sr .) The open center of the house was like a club pip on playing cards it was twelve foot square with an alcove in each corner which sometime would lead to another house. Stefansson lived in one which connected to the uncle of the Eskimo with whom he lived. The entire compound accommodated 23 people.
Posted by vlad at 2:45 PM 1 comments
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Self defence is legal in Montana
http://thementalmilitia.com/forums/index.php?topic=19964.60
Re: Montana Shooting Sports Association and JRC
« Reply #65 on: May 01, 2009, 01:24:12 AM »
Fwd: What's in HB 228?
From: Gary Marbut-MSSA
To: mssa@mtssa.org
Dear MSSA Friends,
Several of you have emailed me to ask what we actually got when theGovernor signed HB 228.
Here's what we got:
1. A clear policy statement by the Legislature that self defense is
a natural right and that self defense by citizens reduces crime.
2. A clear policy statement by the Legislature that the right to
bear arms in Montana is a fundamental (important legal term) and
individual right.
3. Reversal of guilty-until-proven-innocent for people defending
themselves. This provision requires the state to prove beyond a
reasonable doubt that a person defending herself or himself was NOT
justified in using force, rather than before, that defenders must
have proven that they were justified in using force. Trust me, this
is very important.
4. Legislative declaration of policy that a defender has no duty to
summon help or flee before using force to defend, in any place the
defender is lawfully.
5. Open carry is legal. This has been presumed in Montana, but
never stated in law. People have been arrested for open carry. HB
228 will settle that issue for good.
6. A defender may announce "I have a gun," with no more fear of
prosecution under Montana's overbroad felony "Intimidation" statute.
7. Defensive display. A person may show an attacker that the
defender is armed, and may even draw the gun and still be clearly on
the right side of the legal line if the defender genuinely fears attack.
8. Requirement that when police investigate a scene where self
defense is claimed, investigators must collect evidence that may
support a claim of self defense as well as any other evidence.
9. Improved conditions for a defender to use force in any occupied
structure. This applies to all occupied structures, not just a dwelling.
10. Police may not destroy any firearms seized. Any firearms seized
must either be returned to the rightful owner or sold back into the
marketplace.
11. Landlords may not prevent tenants from possessing
firearms. This not only protects travelers staying in motels, but
also protects those who cannot afford to own their own homes.
12. Restoration of the right to bear arms for people convicted of
non-violent crimes who have done their time and been released from
state supervision. This will not apply to a person who committed a
crime of violence or a crime where a weapon was used.
13. The ability to use reasonable force to effect the citizen's
arrest of a person believed to have committed a crime - to be able to
hold the person until law enforcement can be summoned (as happened
recently in Thompson Falls).
14. An immediate effective date. All of this became effective while
the ink from the Governor's signature was drying.
All in all, that's quite a bit.
Gary Marbut, president
Montana Shooting Sports Association
http://www.mtssa.org
author, Gun Laws of Montana
http://www.mtpublish.com
Posted by vlad at 12:12 PM 2 comments
Why do we need permission ????
We need permission from a federal judge to tell the federal
government to butt out?
http://www.star-telegram.com/legislature/story/1355073.html
HB1863 a bill to make guns, ammo and parts made, sold and kept in Texas free from federal regulation
http://tinyurl.com/pn3o9s
section A2003.006. ATTORNEY GENERAL.
(b) On written notification to the attorney general by a
citizen of the citizen’s intent to manufacture a firearm, a firearm accessory, or ammunition to which this chapter applies, the attorney general shall seek a declaratory judgment from a federal district court in this state that this chapter is consistent with the United States Constitution.
EDITED TO ADD
makes me wonder if the water in Austin Texas causes testicular atrophy.
http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2009/billhtml/HB0246.htm
the new law, Montana Firearms Freedom Act has no such requirement.
Posted by vlad at 3:53 AM 0 comments
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
My new toy
April 13 I drove to Houston to buy my new toy
the Worksman PAV3-3CB 110 lb 3 speed
industrial tricycle 500 lb GVW. It has thick steel rims
and 11 gage (0.120") spokes. In the past under my 280 lbs
numerous spokes and several Sun Mammoth aluminum
rims broke while riding on paved shoudler of the highway
at heady speeds approaching 8 mph average. These wheels
won't break.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5tgLLmZj8w
It took real effort to make it over these little sand hills
in low gear. It still takes effort but now I use second gear.
I ride every day. Soon I will ride the same route in third
gear. Like the little train I know I can I know I can.
Posted by vlad at 12:52 PM 1 comments
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Fishkit in 14" Gerber ax handle
Fishkit in the hollow handle of my 14" Gerber ax consists of
-size 8 and size 12 treble hooks threaded onto a safety pin.
-50 lb test braided Spyderwire fish line (as thin as BrandX 10 lb test line) wrapped on a clear plastic sewing bobbin
- magnesium firestarter cut in half lengthwise, and painted to retard corrosion. I attached a cord to MFS, ran it through the center hole of the bobbin, and attached it to hacksaw blade
scraper.
-two single-edge razor blades
To keep everything inside the hollow handle, I stuffed a small mesh bag into the handle, and threaded a leather thong through the two holes near the open end of the handle.
You get two MFS for the price of one. Cut a Magnesium FireStarter in two lengthwise, one piece has a striker inset, and the other does not. Place the piece of MFS (that has no striker inset) in a vise. file a trench lengthwise. Hold Ronson lighter flints in pliers and with wire brush remove red coating from each flint. Apply mixed JB Weld to trench in MFS. press lighter flints into the JB Weld. Next morning after the JBWeld is dried, apply two coats paint to MFS, else it will rapidly corrode in damp climate. After paint has dried, connect MFS with stout nylon cord thru bobbin of fishline to 3" section of hacksaw blade.
Posted by vlad at 4:49 PM 0 comments
Friday, May 1, 2009
meat
I bought ground beef round, dried it in Harvest Maid food dehydrator until it snapped like a dry stick, battered it to small chunks and ground it to powder in Corona corn mill.
one cup dried jerky powder weighs 4 oz = 10 oz fresh meat
1 cup meat powder, 2oz sunflower oil,ground cayenne and cold water in a jar (shake well) makes a quick sustaining meal. Meat powder, oil, ground cayenne, cheese and hot water makes a delicous instant soup.
(Edited to add this info) 100 grams (3.5 oz) ground cayenne contains 16 grams protein, 56 grams carbs, 76 grams Vitamin C and lots of other goodies.
http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/cgi-bin/nut_search.pl?cayenne
Add a cup or two of ground jerky powder to pancake and cornbread batter. You'll like it
................................................................................................
http://www.mongoliatoday.com/issue/5/borts.html
Dried Meat, Food to Last
Mongolian food is rather simple and nourishing. Encounters with different cultures in the course of centuries long wandering across Europe and Asia did not affect the basic diet of nomads, comprising mainly of various combinations of meat and flour.
Life in a saddle, frequent moves in search of better pastures tending their herds prevented Mongols from developing a sophisticated cuisine.
But while Mongols failed to come up with a wide variety of dishes, they mastered what was available to perfection, especially when it comes to meat. There are dozens ways of cooking it: boiling, frying, drying, steaming or smoking.
Here we give a description of how borts (bour- tsi), or dried meat is made-- an ancient way of preserving meat through long harsh winters or marches across continents
As soon as the first cold winter days settle in early December, most Mongolian families set out to store meat reserve.
As a rule, one cow and up to seven to eight sheep are sufficient for a family of five to last through long and harsh winter, until diary products become more available during spring livestock breeding season.
Beef is the meat of choice, but each region has its own specifics. Herders in the Gobi Desert store mostly camel meat, while mountain tribes prefer to slaughter a yak or goats.
First, fresh meat is cut into long, 2- 3 cm thick and 5-7 cm wide strips, then hanged on a rope inside a gher, just under the ceiling where air circulates freely.
Within a month, the meat dries up. Once all the moisture evaporates, meat strips turn into hard, wood-like sticks of a slightly brownish color. The stripped and dried meat of one cow shrinks enough to be easily fit into the animal's stomach.
When the borts is ready, it is taken down and either broken into small pieces, 5-7cm long or minced. The borts is put into a bag made of canvas that allows airflow in and out. Borts can be kept in such bags for months and even years without losing the qualities of meat.
Dried meat is an ideal food for travelers. On long marches, Mongols simply take out a stick of dried meat, powder it and add to boiling water to make a cup of fresh and nourishing bouillon. Even nowadays, many Mongols take a small bag of borts when traveling to faraway places for study or to live.
"I survived the wet and cold winter only by making a cup of borts soup once in a while," says a Mongolian journalist, after spending six months on the Atlantic shore of England.
page 90 Wilderness Cookery by Bradford Angier
Meat is the one complete food. Plump fresh meat is the single food known to mankind that contains every nutritional ingredient necessary for good health. It is entirely possible for man to live on meat alone. No particular parts need be eaten. Fat juicy sirloins, if you prefer, will supply you with all the food necessary for top robustness even if you eat nothing else for a week, a month or a decade.
Every animal in the far and near reaches of this continent, every fish that swims in our lakes and rivers and streams is good to eat. Nearly every part of North American animals is edible, even the somewhat bland antlers that are not bad roasted when in velvet, to the bitterish gall that has an occasional use as seasoning. The single exception is the liver of the polar bear, and of the ringed and bearded seal, which at certain times become so rich in Vitamin A that it is well avoided. Juicy fricasseess, succulent stews and sizzling roasts are fine fare.
If anything, most of us would be happy eating more of this ideal grub which contains all the vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients necessary for full vigor. One way to acomplish this? By not passing up the birds and small game which are freely available to many of us thoughout the entire year and which if not eaten will only be wasted.
from Wilderness Cookery by Bradford Angier
Drying is the simplest way to preserve meat. Cut with the grain. Cut lean deer, moose,elk, caribou, beef and similar red meat in long strips 1/2 inch thick. Hang strips not touching on bushes, etc. Lay on sunwarmed rocks. Turn every hour os so. Smoke from a small fire of non-resinous wood keeps flies away. Season to taste with salt, pepper, thyme. oregano etc. Dry meat until hard, blackish., leathery. Jerky keeps indefinitely if kept dry and away from insects. Trim visible fat for long storage. Jerky alone lacks sufficient necessary fat for the long-term. Supplement it with fats.
from Arctic Manual by Vilhjalmuir Steffansson
On a diet of straight meat , cut fat and lean into inch cubes. Eat one fat, one lean. When fat no longer tastes good, eat just lean until you are full. If fat makes you nauseous you are eating too much of it. The Eskimos he saw were a strong, healthy race and they subsisted on a diet which consisted largely of meat and animal and marine fat. The fat included large quantities of whale blubber. Yes the Eskimo did not suffer from obesity. If meat needs carbohydrate and other vegetable additions to make it wholesome then the poor Eskimo were not eating healthfully .. they should have been in a wretched sate. On the contrary, they seems to me the healthiest people I had lived with."
Farming for Self-Sufficiency John & Sally Seymour page 117
Biltong is salted and dried strips of buck meat or beef and it is almost worshipped by South Afrikans. Living in the back-veld of South West Afrika, as I used to do, biltong formed an important part of my diet. If I shot a gemsbok or a kudu I would turn a very large part of it into biltong. I have made it in Wales since then, in fact I made some last year, out of beef,
and it has been perfectly successful. The only drawback is you need prime cuts really; biltong made from odd bits of scrag end is not really much good.
But this is the way you do it. Cut lean meat up in strips, say an inch square but the longer the better, along the grain or fibre, of the meat. This is most important: do not cut it across the grain. Lay it in dry salt for six hours. Wash the salt off it and hang it - if in southern Afrika in the dry season - in the shade but in the breeze - if in the British Isles in the chimney. I leave mine in the chimney, in light smoke, for say three days, take it down, hang it up in the kitchen, and it is perfect biltong. It is as hard as hickory. To eat it you just pare or shred little shavings off the end of it across the grain with your Joseph Roger 'Lambsfoot' knife (old back-velders will know what I mean), put it on bread and butter, and it is delicious.
Posted by vlad at 11:50 AM 1 comments
Monday, April 27, 2009
To cast bullets in the field
To cast bullets in the field I would dig a Dakota fire hole;
make a wire bail on a 15 oz bean can; put bail on a metal
rod across the fire hole to hang the can down in the fire
hole to melt the wheel weights. I would flux with wax,
stir and pour the metal with a lead dipper; then drop the
bullet from mould into water to quench and harden.
http://www.survivaltopics.com/survival/the-dakota-fire-hole/
http://www.buffaloarms.com/browse.cfm/4,2480.html
http://www.castbullet.com/reload/acast.htm
excerpt Paco Kelly talks about water-quenching bullets
and I have begun to use this method of quickly cooling
bullets cast from wheelweights. If you drop the bullet
into the water straight from the mold, the water cools
the bullet quickly imparting additional hardness to the
new bullet. Hard bullets are good if you are casting for
smokeless powder.
So, if I am casting for my pistols and want hard bullets,
I fill the mold and let the sprue harden. As soon as the
sprue hardens I whack the sprue plate and drop the
sprue on the towel. I then hold the mold over the
water-filled can and drop the bullets directly into the
can. When the bullets are hot, you can hear them
sizzle as they hit the water. end excerpt
Posted by vlad at 9:51 AM 0 comments
Dakota fire hole
http://www.survivaltopics.com/survival/the-dakota-fire-hole/
Posted by vlad at 4:55 AM 0 comments
Friday, April 24, 2009
B0V bike in the trunk
A cheap and dirty BOV bike in the trunk
--buy an 0ld steel frame bike cheap
--install heavy duty wheelset and airfree tires
--cut t0p tube and d0wntube
--use external sleeve, 0r steel b0lt inside tubes, t0
c0nnect the cut tubes. drill h0les. tw0 b0lts at each end
maybe use allenhead screws?
--disassemble/assemble quickly
This bike has 400 lb GVW.
http://tinyurl.com/55zc5p.
You can equip any frame with
400 lb GVW one speed wheelset.
WHEEL 26x2.125 rear coaster brake, 120g, steel (HD-120)
http://tinyurl.com/55zc5p00-222 Price: $42.00
WHEEL 26x2.125 front, 120-g spokes, steel (HD-120)
Price: $27.00
http://tinyurl.com/cmokpc
www.airfreetires.com
Tell Hugh Waters that you want
the +30% version 0celot and
Sierra Unidirectional. They have
little rolling resistance under
my 280 lbs.
http://www.airfreetires.com/shopping/p-60-26-x-19-ocelot-low-profile-559-premium-hd.aspx
http://www.airfreetires.com/shopping/p-64-26-x-19-sierra-unidirectional-559-premium-hd.aspx
Posted by vlad at 5:59 AM 1 comments
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Silent but deadly and other Ed Harris essays
silent but deadly and other Ed Harris essays
http://guns.connect.fi/gow/ed.html
Cast Bullet Basics For Military Surplus Rifles
By C.E. Harris Rev. 9-6-93
FOR THE FULL - NON-CONDENSED VERSION, PICK UP THE NEWEST EDITION OF HANDLOADER'S DIGEST.
Cast bullet loads usually give a more useful zero at practical field ranges with military battle sights than do full power loads. Nothing is more frustrating than a military rifle that shoots a foot high at a hundred yards with surplus ammo when the sight is as low as it will go!
Do NOT use inert fillers (Dacron or kapok) to take up the excess empty space in the case. This was once common practice, but it raises chamber pressure and under certain conditions contributes to chamber ringing. If a particular load will not work well without a filler, the powder is not suitable for those conditions of loading.
Four load classifications from Mattern (1932) cover all uses for the cast bullet military rifle. I worked up equivalent charges to obtain the desired velocity ranges with modern powders, which provide a sound basis for loading cast bullets in any post-1898 military rifle from 7 mm to 8 mm:
1. 125-gr., plainbased "small game/gallery"
900-1000 f.p.s., 5 grains of Bullseye or equivalent.
2. 150-gr. plainbased "100-yd. target/small game",
1050-1250 f.p.s., 7 grs. of Bullseye or equivalent.
3. 150-180-gr. gaschecked "200-yard target"
1500-1600 f.p.s., 16 grs. of #2400 or equivalent.
4. 180-200-gr. gaschecked "deer/600-yard target"
1750-1850 f.p.s., 26 grs. of RL-7 or equivalent.
None of these loads are maximum when used in full-sized rifle cases such as the .30-40 Krag, .303 British, 7.65 Argentine, 7.7 Jap, 7.62x54R or .30-'06. They can be used as basic load data in most modern military rifles of 7 mm or larger, with a standard- weight cast bullet for the caliber, such as 140-170 grains in the 7x57, 150-180 grains in the .30 calibers, and 150-190 grains in the 8 mm. For bores smaller than 7 mm, consult published data.
The "Small Game or Gallery" Load
The 110-115-gr. bullets intended for the .30 carbine and .32-20 Winchester, such as the Lyman #311008, #311359 or #311316 are not as accurate as heavier ones like the #311291. There isn't a readily-available .30 cal. cast small game bullet of the proper 125-130-gr. weight. LBT makes a 130-gr. flat-nosed, GC bullet for the .32 H&R Magnum which is ideal for this purpose. I recommend it highly, particularly if you own a .32 revolver!
The "100-Yard Target and Small Game" Load
I use Mattern's plainbased "100-yard target load" to use up my minor visual defect culls for offhand and rapid-fire 100-yard practice. I substitute my usual gaschecked bullets, but without the gascheck. I started doing this in 1963 with the Lyman #311291. Today I use the Lee .312-155-2R, or the similar tumble-lubed design TL.312-160-2R. Most of my rifle shooting is done with these two basic designs.
Bullets I intend for plainbased loads are blunted using a flatnosed top punch in my lubricator, providing a 1/8" flat which makes them more effective on small game and clearly distinguishes them from my heavier gaschecked loads. This makes more sense to me than casting different bullets. Bullet preparation is easy. I visually inspect each run of bullets and throw those with gross defects into the scrap box for remelting. Bullets with minor visual defects are tumble-lubed in Lee Liquid Alox without sizing, and are used for plain-based plinkers. Bullets which are visually perfect are sorted into groups of +/- 0.5 grain used for 200 yard matches. Gaschecks pressed onto their bases by hand prior running into the lubricator-sizer.
For "gaschecked bullets loaded without the gascheck," for cases like the .303 British, 7.62 NATO, 7.62x54R Russian and .30-'06 I use 6-7 grains of almost any fast burning pistol powder, including, but not limited to Bullseye, W-W231, SR-7625, Green Dot, Red Dot, or 700-X. I have also had fine results with 8 to 9 grains of medium burning rate pistol or shotgun powders, such as Unique, PB, Herco, or SR-4756 in any case of .303 British size or larger.
In the 7.62x39 case use no more than 4 grains of the fast-burning powders mentioned, or 5 grains of the shotgun powders. These make accurate 50-yd. small game loads which let you operate the action manually and save your precious cases. These plinkers are more accurate than you can hold.
Repeated reloading of rimless cases with very mild loads results in the primer blast shoving the shoulder back, unless flash holes are enlarged with a No.39 drill to 0.099" diameter. Cases which are so modified must NEVER be used with full-power loads! ALWAYS identify cases which are so modified by filing a deep groove across the rim with a file and label them clearly to prevent their inadvertent use. For this reason I prefer to do my plainbased practice shooting in rimmed cases like the .30-30, .30-40 rag, .303 British and 7.62x54R which maintain positive headspace on the rim and are not subject to this limitation.
The Harris "Subsonic Target" Compromise
Mattern liked a velocity of around 1250 f.p.s. for his "100-yard target" load, because this was common with the lead-bullet .32-40 target rifles of his era. I have found grouping is best with non-gascheck bullets in military rifles at lower velocities approaching match-grade .22 Long Rifle ammunition. I use my "Subsonic Target" load at around 1050-1100 f.p.s. to replace both Mattern's "small game" and "100-yard target" loads, though I have lumped it with the latter since it really serves the same purpose. Its report is only a modest pop, rather than a crack.
If elongated bullet holes and enlarged groups indicate marginal bullet stability, increase the charge a half grain and try again. If necessary increasing the charge no more than a full grain from the minimum recommended, if needed to get consistent accuracy. If this doesn't work, try a bullet which is more blunt and short for its weight, because it will be more easily stabilized. If this doesn't do the trick, you must change to a gaschecked bullet and a heavier load.
The Workhorse Load - Mattern's "200-Yard Target"
My favorite load is the most accurate, Mattern's so-called "200-yard target load". I expect 10-shot groups at 200 yards, firing prone rapid with sling to average 4-5". I shoot high-Sharpshooter/low-Expert scores across the course with an issue 03A3 or M1917, shooting in a cloth coat, using my cast bullet loads. The power of this load approximates the .32-40, inadequate for deer by today's standards.
Mattern's "200-yard target load" is easy to assemble. Because it is a mild load, soft scrap alloys usually give better accuracy than harder ones such as linotype. Local military collector-shooters have standardized on 16 grains of #2400 as the "universal" prescription. It gives around 1500 f.p.s. with a 150-180-gr. cast bullet in almost any military caliber. We use 16 grains of #2400 as our reference standard, just as highpower competitors use 168 Sierra MatchKings and 4895.
The only common military rifle cartridge in which 16 grains of #2400 provides a maximum load which must not be exceeded is in the tiny 7.62x39 case. Most SKS rifles will function reliably with charges of #2400 as light as 14 grains with the Lee .312-155-2R at around 1500 f.p.s. I designed this bullet especially for the 7.62x39, but it works very well as a light bullet in any .30 or .303 cal. rifle.Cast Bullet Basics For Military Surplus Rifles (cont.)
Sixteen Grains of #2400 Is The Universal Load
The same 16 grain charge of #2400 is universal for all calibers as a starting load. It is mild and accurate in any larger military case from a .30-40 Krag or .303 British up through a .30-'06 or 7.9x57, with standard-weight bullets of suitable diameter for the caliber. This is my recommendation for anybody trying cast bullet loads for the first time in a military rifle without prior load development. I say this because #2400 is not position sensitive, requires no fiber fillers to ensure uniform ignition, and actually groups better when you just stripper-clip load the rifle and bang them off, rather than tipping the muzzle up to position the charge.
Similar ballistics can be obtained with other powders in any case from 7.62x39 to .30-'06 size. If you don't have Hercules #2400 you can freely substitute 17 grains of IMR or H4227, 18 grs. Of 4198, 21 grs. of Reloder 7, 24 grs. of IMR3031, or 25.5 grs. Of 4895 for comparable results. However, these other powders may give some vertical stringing in cases larger than the 7.62x39 unless the charge is positioned against the primer by tipping the muzzle up before firing. Hercules #2400 does not require this precaution. Don't ask me why. Hercules #2400 usually gives tight clusters only within a narrow range of charge weights within a grain or so, and the "universal" 16 grain load is almost always best. Believe me, we have spent a lot of time trying to improve on this, and you can take our word for it.
The beauty of the "200-yard target load" at about 1500 f.p.s. is that it can be assembled with bullets cast from the cheapest inexpensive scrap alloy, and fired all day without having to clean the bore. It ALWAYS works. Leading is never a problem. Once a uniform bore condition is established, the rifle behaves like a .22 match rifle, perhaps needing a warming shot or two if it has cooled, but otherwise being remarkably consistent. The only thing I do after a day's shoot is to swab the bore with a couple of wet patches of GI bore cleaner or Hoppe's, and let it soak until the next match. I then follow with three dry patches prior to firing. It only takes about three foulers to get the 03A3 to settle into tight little clusters again.
"Deer and Long Range Target" Load
Mattern's "deer and 600 yard target load" can be assembled in cases of .30-40 Krag capacity or larger up to the .30-'06 using 18-21 grs. of #2400 or 4227, 22-25 grs. of 4198, 25-28 grs. Of RL-7 or 27-30 grs. of 4895, which give from 1700-1800 f.p.s., depending on the case size. These charges must not be used in cases smaller than the .303 British without cross-checking against published data! The minimum charge should always be used initially, and the charge adjusted within the specified range only as necessary to get best grouping. Popular folklore suggests a rifle barrel must be near perfect for good results with cast bullets, but this is mostly bunk, though you may have to be persistent.
I have a rusty-bored Finnish M28/30 which I have shot extensively, in making direct comparisons with the same batches of loads on the same day with a mint M28 and there was no difference. The secret in getting a worn bore to shoot acceptably is remove all prior fouling and corrosion. Then you must continue to clean the bore "thoroughly and often" until it maintains a consistent bore condition over the long term. You must also keep cast bullet loads under 1800 f.p.s. for hunting, and under 1600 for target work.
A cleaned and restored bore will usually give good accuracy with cast bullet loads if the bullet fits the chamber THROAT properly, is well lubricated and the velocities are kept below 1800 f.p.s. The distinction between throat diameter and groove diameter in determining proper bullet size is important. If you are unable to determine throat diameter from a chamber cast, a rule of thumb is to size bullets .002" over groove diameter, such as .310" for a .30-'06, .312" for a 7.62x54R and .314" for a .303 British.
"Oversized .30s" like the .303 British, 7.7 Jap, 7.65 Argentine, 7.62x39 Russian and frequently give poor accuracy with .30 cal. cast bullets designed for U.S. barrels having .300 bore and .308 groove dimensions, because the part of the bullet ahead of the driving bands receives no guidance from the lands in barrels of larger bore diameter. The quick rule of thumb to checking proper fit of the forepart is to insert the bullet nose first into the muzzle. If it enters to clear up to the front driving band without being noticeably engraved, accuracy will seldom be satisfactory.
The forepart is not too large if loaded rounds can be chambered with only slight resistance, the bullet does not telescope back into the case, or to stick in the throat when extracted without firing. A properly fitting cast bullet should engrave the forepart positively with the lands, and be no more than .001" under chamber throat diameter on the driving bands. Cast bullets with a tapered forepart at least .002" over bore diameter give the best results.
Many pre-WWII Russian rifles of US make, and later Finnish reworks, particularly those with Swiss barrels by the firm SIG, have very snug chamber necks and cannot be used with bullets over .311" diameter unless case necks are reamed or outside turned to .011" wall thickness to provide safe clearance. Bullets with a large forepart like the Lee .312-155-2R or Lyman #314299 work best in the 7.62x54R, because the forcing cones are large and gradual. Standard .30 cal. gaschecks are correct. Finnish 7.62x54R, Russian 7.62x39 and 7.65 Argentine barrels are smaller than Russian 7.62x54R, Chinese 7.62x39, Jap 7.7 or .303 British barrels, and usually have standard .300" bore diameter, (Finnish barrels occasionally are as small as .298") and groove diameters of .310-.3115".
In getting the best grouping with iron sighted military rifles, eyesight is the limiting factor. Anybody over age 40 who shoots iron sights should to equip himself with a "Farr-Sight" from Gil Hebbard or Brownell's. This adjustable aperture for your eyeglass frame was intended for indoor pistol shooters, but it helps my iron sight rifle shooting, and adds about 5 points to my score!
Posted by vlad at 6:50 AM 0 comments
Thursday, April 16, 2009
can you hide your thermal image?
when you are hunted how will you hide your thermal image?
I don't know. maybe those heavy aluminized space blankets.
thermal rifle scope
http://tinyurl.com/dnc8vu
thermal scope hog hunting
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLp6DQjDjxw
Posted by vlad at 6:57 AM 0 comments
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Holbrook device for Garand
The Holbrook Garand rifle thumb saver is $45.00
postpaid. Please send postal money order
John Holbrook
2015 24th St #57
Bellingham WA 98225
john.holbrook@comcast.net
see Boston's Gun Bible page 11/30
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
The Device is a replacement for the GI op rod catch and it stops automatic bolt release when loading a clip. It also prevents auto clip ejection when the last round is fired.
http://www.biggerhammer.net/manuals/garand/expl-vue.htm
Pls see exploded view Garand
The Holbrook device replaces item 31 oprod catch.
He cut the hook off, and installed a spring on one side.
With it installed, the Garand operates much like the M-14/M1A. When a full clip is inserted into the receiver it will latch, however you must pull and release the bolt handle to charge the top round. It will operate in the normal manner until the last round is fired and the
bolt will lock open but the clip will not eject. To eject the clip you must push the eject button on the receiver...
With an empty clip latched in the receiver, single rounds can be loaded into the clip, 1 through 8. when you have as many as you wish, just pull and release and away you go.......
The rifle is not modified and can be converted back to GI by replacing the Device with the original catch.
I installed it in my Garand. It works exactly as described. I am delighted.
So long as the army is supplying you with unlimited ammo it does not matter if the enbloc clips fly away never to be found. The unreconstructed diehard resister/survivor skulking in the mesquite thickets will appreciate the Holbrook device. It allows him to remove the empty clip and keep it for reloading. That's good because he may not be able to find more .
I was a rifleman in First Platoon Co B 27th Wolfhounds Sep 50 to Sep 51 in Korean War One. The idea that the enemy waits to hear the PING of the ejected enbloc clip to charge your position is utter horseshit.
Posted by vlad at 10:34 AM 0 comments
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
The Load, cost of components, trajectory
http://www.icehouse.net/fgrig/gun/REDDOT.TXT
excerpts
"The velocities obtained with 13 grs. of Red Dot appear mild, but "The Load" is no pipsqueak! In a case like the .308 or .30-'06, you get (from a 24" sporter barrel) about 1450 f.p.s. with a 200 gr. cast bullet, 1500 with a 170-gr., or 1600 with a 150-gr. cast load. "The Load" is fully comparable to "yesterday's deer rifle", the .32-40, and provides good expansion of cheap, soft alloys (10-13 BHN) at woods ranges. Jacketed bullet velocities
with "The Load" are about 120-150 f.p.s. less than a lubricated lead bullet of the same weight. "
and " Wheelweights also work well, as do soft "Scheutzen" alloys such as 1:25 tin/lead. in bores of 8 mm or larger. "The Load" drives soft-cast .30-cal. to 8 mm bullets fast enough to get expansion, but
without fragmenting. These out-penetrate factory .30-30
softpoints, and kill medium game up to 150 lbs. well at short ranges up to 100 yards, when placed accurately. In medium and large bores like the .375 H&H or .45-70, "The Load" gives typical black powder ballistics for the bore. A 255-265 gr. cast bullet in the .375 H&H approximates the .38-55 at 1330 f.p.s. Soft 300-
405-gr. cast bullets are pushed at 1300-1350 f.p.s. from a 22" barrel .45-70, sporter are very effective on deer at woods ranges. Cast bullets over .35 cal. do not have to expand appreciably to work well on game if blunt and heavy for their caliber. "
WAG at cost of 45-70 cast reloads
components per Midwayusa mar 18 09
IMR4064..1 lb...21.49...129 54 gr...17 c
Red Dot..1 lb .15.79....538 13 gr....3 c
CCI 200 LR primers 1k....27.99.....2.8 c
Buffalo Arms cast bullets
.458 405 FN.....26.99 for 50....54 c
wheelweights
25 cents per lb....17 400 gr/ lb .. 2 c
Buffalo reload
54c bullet
17c powder
3c primer
-----------------------------------
74 cents
...wheelweight reloads........
2c bullet ..,.400 gr.....
3c powder..13 gr red dot...
3c primer....CCI 200.....
--------------------------------
8 cents
Learn fields of fire in your AO
24 inches from nose to navel on average man
Truck odometer graduated in 1/10 mi
1/10 = 176 yards
2/10 = 352 yards
per nr 10 Speer loading manual
Marlin 1895 45-70 22" barrel
Speer 400 gr jacketed FN BC .214
MV......100.......200.......300.....400.....500
1700... +8.........poa......-34......-100.....-208
MV........50...100...150....200....250
1300....+5...+6......poa....-14....-38
1000....+9...+10....poa....-21....-54
Ruger Nr 1 22" barrel 45-70
MV......100...150.......200....250
2100....+3.....poa......-6......-16
Rem 700 22" barrel 30-06
Speer 165 gr spitzer BT BC .477
MV......100......200.....300.....400...500
2700....+5.......+6.......poa....-13....-35
SMLE 25" barrel 303 Brit
150 gr spitzer bc 411
mv........100.....200.....300....400....500
2500......+6.......+7........poa...-17....-45
180 gr RN bc .304
mv........50.....100....150....200....250
1500...+3.....+5.......poa....-10......-27
1000....+8.....+9.....poa...-20.......-50
Posted by vlad at 6:51 PM 0 comments
Monday, March 16, 2009
priming tool mod
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXWi0ZtBoYs
(Re video - I do not place my hand over the mouth of the case in which I am seating a primer.)
If you turn the RCBS Hand Priming Tool upside down the primer seating rod falls out.
Disassemble the priming tool.
About an eighth of an inch from the rounded end, file/saw a thin notch about 1/3 through the primer seating rod.
Grasp the end of the tool operating spring with ViseGrip WR5 and bend the end of the spring half closed.
Press the primer seating rod through the spring. The half-closed spring will grasp the notch near the rounded end of the primer seating rod.
Reassemble the tool.
Turn the tool upside down if you wish. The primer seating rod won't fall out.
Posted by vlad at 2:27 AM 0 comments
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Nixtamal
Nixtamal is the treated corn that is used to make masa and hominy. First the corn is cooked and soaked in lime, rinsed and then the hulls may or may not be removed. This task may seem daunting and the ingredients may seem unusual, but they are easily found and you will have fresher tasting Posole, Tamales and Tortillas. Once you assemble the ingredients, the rest is easy.
You can use nixtamal in * Tamale Dough * Corn Tortillas * Hominy for Posole
Time Required: 2 hours to 24 hours, depending on use
Here's How:
1. Prepare Measure out 3lbs or 2 quarts of dried corn, 4 quarts of water and 5 tablespoons slaked lime.
2. Mix Mix water and lime in a large nonreactive pot. Turn up heat to "high" and stir constantly until lime is thoroughly dissolved.
3. Cook Add corn to pot and remove any kernels that float to the top. Bring water to a rolling boil, then turn down heat to let it simmer.
* Tortillas- Bring to a boil and remove from heat. Let soak overnight.
* Tamale Dough- Boil for 15 mintues, then let it soak for 1 1/2 hours.
* Hominy- Boil for 15 minutes and let it soak for 15 mintues.
4. Soak After simmering for the appropriate amount of time, cover the pot and turn off the heat. Allow the corn to soak in the heated water. See #8 for soaking times.
5. Rinse and Remove Drain corn in a large colander and rinse under water using your fingers to rub the corn, removing all traces of lime. If you are making hominy, it will be necessary to remove the hulls at this time. The hulls are the little brown tips, and you can just rub them or pick them off.
6. Additional Rinse Put the hulled corn into a large bowl and cover with lukewarm water. Allow to soak for 5-10 minutes while moving the corn around with your fingers. Repeat. This will ensure the lime is washed away.
7. Drain Drain the finished corn through a colander and you now have nixtamal.
8. Cooking and Soaking Times-
* Tortillas- Bring to a boil and remove from heat. Let soak overnight.
* Tamale Dough- Boil for 15 mintues, then let it soak for 1 1/2 hours.
* Hominy- Boil for 15 minutes and let it soak for 15 mintues.
9. Process or Grind To make dough for tamales or tortillas, you will need to grind the nixtamal. The food processor can be used for tamale dough, but it won't grind it fine enough for tortillas. You can use a grinder, or a metate y mano to grind it very fine for tortillas.
Tips:
1. Make sure to remove all of the lime or your masa will be sour and taste badly.
2. For hominy, remember to remove the hulls.
3. Follow the cooking and soaking times because they differ depending on what you are going to be using it for.
4. Be very careful with the lime as it is caustic and can cause bodily harm if ingested in large quantities. It is in the same family as lye.
5. If you have trouble finding lime, try the pickling supplies section of your local grocer. It may be called pickling lime.
What You Need:
* Dried Corn - Field, Dent or Hominy
* Lime- "Cal", Slaked Lime, Calcium Hydroxide (Not Quick Lime or Calcium Oxide)
* Water * Food Processor or Grinder
* Non-Reactive Pot (Stainless Steel or Enamel)
Reply With Quote
Posted by vlad at 10:44 AM 0 comments
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Worksman industrial tricycle
I am considering the PAV3-3C tricycle
http://worksmancycles.com/shopsite_s...html/pav3.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5tgLLmZj8w
or the M2626-3B tricycle http://worksmancycles.com/shopsite_s...html#M2626-3CB
both are heavy duty with thick steel wheels, 11 gage spokes (0.120")
and rated about 500 GVW.
If you have used either of these machines please give me your opinion.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Earthship solar home
Earthship is an earthsheltered, solar home whose walls are old tires packed with dirt. One side of the earthship is a greenhouse.
Here are two of numerous Earthship videos.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9jdIm7grCY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rlrhxqat_6A&NR=1
Posted by vlad at 8:26 AM 0 comments
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
safely close a sharp folder
Teach children of all ages to safely close a knife.
Clench left fist. Place blade under thumb of
clenched fist, cutting edge away. Release lock.
Slowly move handle to cover cutting edge.
Posted by vlad at 7:54 AM 0 comments
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Airfree bicycle tires
Airfree tires of polyurethane microfoam
cannot go flat or blow out. I have them on
five bikes since 2001.
http://felixwong.com/2006/12/air-free-tires/
Felix Wong commented,
"Conclusion: I am impressed by these tires. They have convinced me that all generic claims made about modern airless tires — heavy, poor rolling resistance, hard to mount, crackpot money-making schemes, etc. — are bunk.
That they ride harsher than pneumatic tires may be true, but only marginally so. I personally don’t think they ride all that uncomfortably (and note that when I did my commuting rides, I was wearing jeans instead of padded cycling shorts!), and I especially like how I no longer have to worry about flat tires, carrying tire changing tools, or pumping up the tires before going into town.
They are perfect for the Ultimate Commuter Bike, and I believe they may even viable for training rides for competitive cyclists who don’t want to deal with flats. The main people they would not be suitable for are racers and people who are really picky about ride quality (most of these people ride sew-ups anyhow :) ).
If you try them out, please let me know what you think.
Posted by vlad at 6:39 AM 2 comments
Thursday, November 20, 2008
The Black Arrow
a review of The Black Arrow by Vin Suprynowicz, he of the brass balls.
http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/delsignore93.html
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0976251604/qid=1111697617/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-7473025-4014366?v=glance&s=books
If you have never read Suprynowicz, Who was Carl Dregas? is a fine place to start. http://www.geocities.com/northstarzone/drega1.html
Vin Suprynowicz lets it all hang out. If asked I would say that he is elegantly literate.
Best yarn I read lately. reminds me of EFAD. The Order of the Arrow is a small group of illegally armed patriots devoted to killing the enemies of the Constitution. They do business in a sincere manner.
excerpt The Black Arrow p 41
Jerry Westheimer was just a tax man, a medium level cog in a very big machine. He knew that people did not like him but did not expect to be killed for what he did, which was to steal the property of the productive class, a little at a time gradually driving his own country deeper and deeper into the sinkhole of socialist corruption and induced redistributionist poverty.
The Black Arrow was great. Reminded me of Unintended Consequences, EFAD and Batman.
Many ladies will identify with the women warriors of The Order of the Arrow skilled in bow, sword, pistol and rifle.
I mailed it back to the owner. I'll pick up a used copy for reference. I'll probably read it a few more times. People who do not return borrowed books should be impaled on fence posts, or boiled in oil.
Posted by vlad at 6:25 AM 1 comments
Saturday, October 18, 2008
the Zeppelin bend knot
http://www.survivaltopics.com/survival/how-to-make-a-zeppelin-bend-knot/
easy to tie two ropes together; and easy to untie
even after knot is subjected to heavy loads.
Posted by vlad at 8:50 AM 1 comments
Monday, September 29, 2008
comparison four brands 22LR subsonic
http://www.jesseshunting.com/articles/guns/category16/66.html
Posted by vlad at 8:13 AM 3 comments
Saturday, September 27, 2008
electric motor bicycle
I was wondering if the unreconstructed diehard resister/evader/survivalist
might use such a vehicle as this with solar recharge capability.
One could pedal normally 98% of time and use electric assist as necessary.
Worksman (one,three or seven speed coaster brake) and Husky offer heavy duty industrial bikes GVW 400 lbs.
Hummer is 300 lb GVW
bicycle trailers carry up to 100 lbs.
don't need no steeeenking gasoline. bicycles have electric motor with
rechargeable batteries.
the Hummer with Cyclone motor
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=selRFZUzh6Q
the Ultimate Hybrid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKKvP9wWrlY&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lV4FxzprGfg&NR=1
motor kit
http://www.werelectrified.com/product_info.php?cPath=2&products_id=1
Posted by vlad at 4:23 PM 1 comments
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
My 4x4
Older Chevy 4X4s: The Ideal EMP-Proof Survival Vehicles, by Vlad
The ideal survival vehicle is a 4x4, 3/4 ton made by GMC or Chevrolet. They are easy to work on, old enough to be cheap, new enough to get parts for and, tough enough to last.
My 1976 GMC 4x4 3/4 ton pickup has 300,000+ plus miles. Maintenance = reliability. It has V8 350, 4 speed standard shift, 4.10 axles, dual-range transfer case, manual hubs. In Low range first gear I have crept up and down icy mountain roads with perfect confidence --- and V-bar chains on all four wheels.
Between the steel line from the gas tank, and the mechanical fuel pump, I installed a piece of new neoprene gas hose with two in-line fuel filters in tandem. This serves to capture grit that would abrade, and shorten the service life of, the fuel pump diaphragm; and otherwise clog the moving parts inside the fuel pump. Between the output side of the mechanical fuel pump and the intake of the carburetor I installed a long piece of neoprene gas line, with one inline fuel filter, secured where it will not touch the exhaust manifold.
At the front of the block, near the mechanical fuel pump, there is a hole threaded 3/8x16. Screw a 3/8x16 bolt in that hole to secure the fuel pump push rod. Remove the old fuel pump. Now is the best time to install neoprene lines and in-line fuel filters as described above. Install new fuel pump. Remove 3.8x16 bolt before you start the engine.
I swapped the high energy ignition (HEI) with a [microprocessor] electronic module) for a [traditional and EMP-proof ] points-type distributor. The HEI distributor is $200 and points-type distributor is $50. I replaced Quadra-Jet 4 barrel carburetor with an Edelbrock 1405 4 bbl carb, and bought a calibration kit. I can change jets and rods for anything from max power in axle-deep mud to economy cruise at high altitude. Just now I have it calibrated for 6,000 foot elevation. In East Texas 400 foot elevation at 65 mph I average 12.5 mpg.
My carb flooded. The engine would not start. I disassembled the carb on my tailgate and found a defective float. I replaced both floats (from my tool box), reassembled the carb and drove home.
In my truck toolbox I carry at all times a starter, alternator, fuel pump, complete distributor; extra points, condenser and rotor; and hand tools ...as well as food, a rifle or two, two axes, and a daypack with a few goodies. If you ain't got it with you it could be a long walk to get it.
I use the alternator but have a generator; and installed a wire-wound voltage regulator. The generator stays in my toolbox. It takes only minutes to bolt the generator in place.
Chevrolet part number 3814970, right exhaust manifold, has a place to mount the generator. It fits all Chevy/GMC small block V8 '73 thru '86. You can order a new one from your dealer.
A generator-equipped vehicle with standard transmission will roll-start without a starter or a battery. If the battery is missing, secure the positive battery cable clamp where it cannot possibly ground. Tape it to a heater hose. Roll start and go!
An alternator must be electrically energized to produce electric current. If your truck has an alternator you must have a battery.
Avoid automatic transmissions. Since around 1960 [US built] automatic transmission vehicles will not push start.
We can thank Big Brother for the many changes in automotive design. Electromagnetic pulse (EMP) from a nuclear detonation 400 miles above earth will destroy all unshielded electronic parts in line-of-sight. ...... the electronic components in Electronic-Fuel Injection, alternators, telephones, radios, televisions, computers, watches, GPS........etc
In 1945 we nuked Hiroshima and Nagasaki. At that time all vehicles had carburetors, generators with wire-wound voltage regulators, and points-type ignition. Vehicle exposed to EMP were still operable. In the early 1950s US conducted nuclear tests in Nevada, and studied effects of nuclear weapons ([including] EMP). Shortly thereafter the generator was replaced with an alternator that has unshielded electronic "chips" ..
If your racy 2007 model Technodazzle stops, call the AAA. Have it towed to the dealer. A highly educated Automotive Diagnostic Technician will attach it to a $100,000 computer to learn which parts to change. Repairs may cost as little as four months pay.
1973 through 1986 Chevy/GMC 4x4 pickup, Blazer and Suburban (seats nine if you wish) have 95% parts interchange. The same carb, fuel pump, alternator, starter fits them all. Every junkyard from Fairbanks to Florida has lots of old Chevy 4x4s.
Procedure for Changing HEI to Traditional Points Ignition on a 1976 GMC/Chevy V8 350:
A picture is worth a 1000 words. At the public library find a Chilton manual for 1974 Chevy/GMC V8 350 and study the engine ignition wiring; and photocopy those pages to use as a guide.
If possible, find someone who drives a 74 or older GMC V8 350 and eyeball his wiring.
buy these parts
- rebuilt points distributor for 1974 GMC V8 350, with cap and rotor
- also buy replacement points, rotor and condenser (for later tune up. each time you use tune up parts, immediately buy replacements for your toolbox for next time.)
- buy the Allen wrench with long handle with which to adjust the points
- set of points-type spark plug wires
- 8 each AC-Delco # 44 spark plugs (Gap them to 0.035")
- two ballast resistors ( one goes in toolbox for later)
- one coil and coil bracket (you may want to buy an extra coil at this time)
STEP ONE is to read all instructions three times before you do anything else. If possible have an experienced friend oversee your installation.
Begin:
-remove negative battery cable clamp from the alternator bracket.
-tape the negative battery cable to a heater hose (so it cannot ground).
-mount ballast resistor on the firewall.
-mount the coil and bracket on the fire wall below the ballast resistor.
-the (only ) RED wire that presently runs from ignition switch through firewall to your HEI distributor will be connected to the driver side of the ballast resistor. (cut the red wire at a point 3" from HEI distributor. cut a 15" inch piece of number 12 insulated wire to extend the RED wire to connect to driver side of ballast resistor.
use a butt connector to connect 15" wire to red wire. use a spade connector to connect it to ballast resistor.)
-with an 8" piece of number 12 insulated wire, spade connector on each end, connect passenger side of the ballast resistor to the "plus" ( + ) side of the coil.
-the only black wire hanging out the bottom of the points distributor connects to the
minus ( - ) side of the coil. (it goes from points to minus side of the coil)
For future reference, with a white paint stick, mark a large - and + on the coil. when you are cold, tired and the wind is blowing up your jacket (and your wife is asking if you got it fixed yet) it will help to see those marks and not have to rely on memory.
points distributor cap terminals --
#2 is the first terminal CW of the "door" in the distributor cap where you adjust the points.
firing order is 1 - 8 - 4 -3 - 6- 5- 7 - 2
with masking tape label points distributor cap terminals, HEI distributor terminals, and each HEI spark plug wire near the spark plug.
driver side front to back 1, 3, 5, 7 ..... and passenger side front to back 2, 4, 6, 8;
pull the plug wires off each spark plug but leave them connected to distributor cap.
remove HEI distributor cap with spark plug wires still attached. lay that aside for now.
Note the position of HEI distributor rotor. If it points to 6 o'clock, write on a 3x5 card "rotor to 6 o'clock" and tape that card on inner fender.
-loosen hold-down bolt ( 9/16" wrench) and remove HEI distributor
-install points distributor with rotor pointing to 6 o'clock (if that is what you wrote on the 3x5 card taped to the inner fender). the points distributor rotor must point exactly as did the HEI distributor rotor.
-hand tighten the hold-down bolt. later you will need to turn the distributor by hand when setting the timing.
you bought new AC 44 plugs and gapped them 0.035".
-now install the new spark plugs.
-install the points distributor cap.
-install the new plug wires one at a time. using the HEI distributor cap and wires as a guide.
-connect dwell tachometer black clip to ground, red clip to "minus" side of coil
-open the window in the distributor cap, and stick the allen wrench (with long handle) in the points adjust knob.
-connect battery ground cable to alternator bracket.
-remove vacuum hose from distributor, and plug that end of the hose
-with starter turning engine, turn allen wrench to adjust points so dwell reads 30.(book specs 29 to 31)
to set timing:
- with engine idling.
- the vacuum advance hose is still plugged.
- turn distributor CCW to attain maximum idle RPM, then CW to 200 RPM less than maximum
unplug vacuum advance hose. connect unplugged hose to vacuum advance on distributor.
with 9/16" wrench tighten distributor hold-down bolt.
if engine pings or rattles on acceleration:
-- disconnect and plug vacuum advance hose
-- connect dwell tachometer, black to ground , red to minus side of coil
-- loosen hold-down bolt and turn distributor CCW to max idle RPM, then CW to 300 RPM less than max idle RPM.
--tighten hold-down bolt to secure distributor
-- unplug and reconnect vacuum advance hose to distributor
Now let me tell you how we changed points in the shop:
-Since the engine will start if the points gap (which governs dwell angle, the number degrees of distributor rotation that the points remain closed) is close to .024", we'd install the point set and eyeball the gap to that.
-You can use a matchbook cover if yer eye is out of calibration.
-Then we'd crank it up and slowly turn the adjustment to the point where the engine began to stumble, then back the other way til it began to ping. The correct dwell would be -- within limits -- at the midpoint between the two.
-Timing can be done the same way mentioned previously but listening for the "ping and stumble" and setting midpoint between.
-When doing timing or dwell by this method, make the adjustment as smoothly as possible to make changes in engine sound more easily detectable. Keeping the distributor clamp screw just finger snug will make this easier when doing the timing.
-I toss this on the pile because there will be times when ya just do no have a dwell [meter/]tachometer in your pocket and have to change out ignition components that require adjustment. Get in tune with the pitch and sound of a properly tuned engine running at idle.
When I was doing this stuff regularly in my shop (I once was an automotive masochistic), I could by ear tell engine speed within 50 RPM -- no BS on this. If you are serious about this stuff, get intimate with your vehicle.
Packing '73-'86 GMC/Chevy 3/4 ton 4x4 front wheel bearings:
As always read instructions three times before you do anything else. You will need a metal pie plate and large magnet
- place magnet in center of pie plate.
- place small parts on magnet. (they will be there when you look for them)
special 3/8" drive socket for castellated nut inside hub
3/8" allen wrench
3/8" drive breaker bar
3/8 x 16 x 3" bolt
-wheel bearing grease
-spindle grease seal
-hub grease seals
-- chock rear wheel front and back
-- loosen front wheel lug nuts
-- raise front of truck on jack
-- place stands under axle housing
-- remove front wheel
-- with 3/8 allen wrench remove bolts that secure brake caliper
( place bolts on magnet in pie plate)
-- remove brake caliper and secure it without stretching or kinking brake hose
-- remove hub
-- with snap ring pliers remove snap ring
-- with special socket remove outer castellated nut
-- remove the washer (++ note that it has a pin that fits into a hole in the inner castellated nut)
-- remove inner castellated nut
-- remove rotor
-- remove the six nuts that secure the spindle
-- remove the spindle. it may be necessary to tap spindle with a brass hammer to remove it . do not use a steel hammer as that will mar the spindle-remove oil seal on inner side of rotor
-remove inner wheel bearing. wash it in solvent. dry it. apply new grease. put a golf ball size lump of grease in the palm of your left hand. place new bearing on the lump of grease. place right hand over left. squeeze hands together to force grease into the new bearing.
-place greased new bearing in the inner side of rotor. place new oil seal. with a brass hammer, or wooden handle very gently tap around the seal seating it.
-remove oil seal from spindle. remove old spindle bearing. grease and install new spindle bearing, install new spindle seal. A note on reassembly: Screw the 3/8x16x3" bolt into the threaded hole in the end of the axle. pull outward on the axle so you can get the snap ring on.
PS: Buy new wheel bearings and spindle bearings and seals to keep in reserve. Open each package. Grease the new bearings. Wrap them and put them back in the package. This will serve to keep them from rusting; and allow you to install greased bearings in the field. Keep the new bearings and seals in the toolbox on your truck.
Posted by vlad at 2:13 AM 2 comments
Friday, August 1, 2008
hydration in hot weather
I add 1/2 teaspoon Morton LiteSalt to my 2 liter backpack canteen
page 118 Let's Eat Right by Adelle Davis
Under normal circumstances, a healthy person runs little risk of deficiencies of sodium and chlorine. In extremely hot weather, however, so much salt can be lost through perspiration that death may occur.
Death from salt deficiency occured during the construction of Boulder Dam and similiar projects. During the blistering summer of 1933 I corresponded with an engineer who was working on Parker Dam. Each letter contained some such note as, "We had a wonderful cook but he died yesterday of sunstroke." The symptoms of sunstroke are now recognized as caused largely by loss of salt through perspiration.
A lack of salt causes symptoms varying in severity from mild lassitude, weariness, or hot-weather fatigue, common during heat waves, to heat cramp, heat exhaustion, and heatstroke, familiar to those who work in iron foundries, furnace or boiler rooms, and industrial plants such as steel or paper mills. Even persons who play tennis or take similar exercise during hot weather may suffer from heat stroke.
Persons working in extremely hot weather are often advised to take a salt tablet with each drink of water.
page 187 there are three nutrients - potassium, sodium and chlorine which we need in quite large amounts. Sodium and chlorine are supplied by tablet salt. Potassium is widely occuring in ........
Morton LiteSalt 11 oz about 99c
1 oz = 6 teaspooons
11 oz = 66 teaspoons= 76,560 mg sodium, and 89,760 mg potassium
1/4 teaspoon serving
290 mg sodium
340 mg potassium
40% iodine
If you put one teaspoon Morton LiteSalt per gallon of water, an 8 oz serving will contain 72 mg Sodium, and 85 mg Potassium.
8 oz of Gatorade
contains 110 mg sodium, 30 mg potassium. (per Gatorade label.)
Posted by vlad at 6:12 AM 4 comments
survivor/resister minimum gear
If reduced to mininum gear I could carry on my mountain bike with airless tires a rifle, 200 loaded rounds, 50 cal kit for 500 reloads
and forty pounds other gear without which life might be short but grim -- poncho, hammock, sleepbag, silnylon tarp, cast net, trot line,
cookpot, ax etc.
Ranges are short in the piney woods of East Texas. Subsonic handloads are quiet. They will be lucky if they do not catch me.
..............................................................................
Original Lee Loader (sizes only the neck)
http://tinyurl.com/6dhhv6
OLL tutorial
http://tinyurl.com/22eop8
Reloading with Lee Loader video http://tinyurl.com/66nd82
RCBS hand priming tool
http://tinyurl.com/2xgufc
in addition to bench mounted tools,
I have 50 cal ammo can kits for 30-06, 30-30 and 45-70.
Each 50 can holds Original Lee Loader, RCBS hand priming tool, and powder, primers and bullets for 500 reloads.
Posted by vlad at 4:55 AM 0 comments
Monday, July 14, 2008
Haitian Zebco
You need not carry a rod and reel in your BOB.
You can easily improvise. I prefer to use braided
50 lb test spyderwire which is as thin as BrandX
ten lb test line.
Wrap the line around a bottle or Coke can. Take
care that you securely tie the end of the
line to the can.
With a little practice you can cast a lure or baited hook
almost as far, and as accurately, as with rod and reel.
To retrieve, let the incoming line run through one hand.
With the other hand move the bottle as if stirring the air
with it and the line will wrap on the bottle.
Posted by vlad at 6:12 AM 1 comments
Friday, June 27, 2008
quick and dirty shelter
http://tinyurl.com/29xojl
Posted by vlad at 6:43 AM 1 comments
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
kit
minimum kit in day pack, or in fishing vest with pouch on back
--knit wool watch cap
--leather palm work gloves
--lightweight GI hooded poncho
--survival blanket with hole so you can wear it as a liner under the poncho (this is the heavyweight blanket, threee grommets on each long side, aluminized on one side and OD green on the other side. It folds up the size of a magazine.)
--flashlight,
--polaroid sunglasses
--bandana
--multi-tool
--extra tea candles inside candle lantern
--map and compass
--whistle
--knife and sharpener
-- three Bic propane cigarette lighters
--magnesium firestarter with 3 inch hacksaw blade and GI P-38 can opener attached
--canteen(s) and water purification tabs.
--small fishing kit
--food (I usually carry two cans corned beef, or four cans smoked kippers)
-- 4oz morton litesalt
I assume that you are wearing a large bore sidearm or carrying a rifle.
If you have to RON outofdoors away from camp select a suitable tree or rock to lean back against, clear all combustibles from the ground for ten feet in all directions, insulate your butt from the ground, put on liner with poncho and put lighted candle lantern between your feet where heat will rise inside the poncho.
The Hilton it aint but it'll keep you alive.
NOTE as soon as you realize that you are lost sit down, thinks things over, check your map, take a drink of water, eat if you are hungry. Relax. If it is already late afternoon plan to spend the night near that location.
Posted by vlad at 10:25 AM 3 comments
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