Car still needs work.

Well, two years since I last ran the car, and I'm having the same problem (only more severe this time). My times were 12.044 and 12.067 on two consecutive passes, and I went to jet-up, and didn't have the right jets for the rear, and couldn't buy any at the track, so I just raised the float level a little bit, and got another .10 out of it with 11.905. I'm still off by about 2-4mph on the top end, and my 1/8 mile times are right for about 11.75-11.80, I'm just dropping off on the top end.

This is the first time I've run the car in less that 98*F air, and the humidity was low (65%) so I thought I could get a PB out of it, but I think I really need more fuel. Of course, I grabbed a box of spark plugs to swap in when I got to the track, but hadn't labeled the box "used," so when I opened them up, I got a nice little surprise. It was impossible to read them, as I've put about 200-300 miles of street time on those plugs.

I also had a bit of a wierd vibration or shake at the top of second gear - it might be time to pull the TH350 and root around in its guts a bit. I really don't want to go back to the TH400 and have to get another driveshaft...

Anyone who's interested can see my combination here.

I Thought This Was Settled...

David Codrea brings up an old discussion on what would be used by modern hunters on a T-Rex, though I suppose self defense shootings would likely be necessary for anyone living in an inhabited area.

I thought this matter was already settled by Lara Croft. You simply have to find a large clearing with four ancient spiked wheels in it, shoot it with dual .45 ACP 1911-A1s, or Dual .45 ACP USP Expert Match handguns, to enrage it. Run towards one of the wheels, and when it charges, use your special "bullet time" ability (like in John Woo movies) to stun it with a single headshot, and it will slam into the wheel. Do this with three of the four spiked wheels, and the beast will fall.

Building an AR-15

This is a fairly new endeavor for me - I recently bought a Superior Arms S-15 stripped lower receiver, and a CMMG lower parts kit. I'm using a generic 6-position collapsible stock, and that's it for now. I'll post pics when I get the chance, but thanks to AR15.com for the wonderful thread about assembly, including a few videos of the process.

I'm currently shopping for some used upper parts, so if any readers (do I have readers?) have anything lying around in the parts bin, I'm in the market for some purchases.

I'm thinking of building a 16" M4 profile with an M4 flattop and some sort of free-floating 4-rail hand guard. My WASR or K-31 just aren't tacti-cool enough for an HK-owning "operator" such as yours truly.

No Excuses...

I've just been lazy- posting comments elswhere and not posting here. Now, for a few posts...

Busy few weeks...

...The in-laws came up from Chicago for a visit, so some house-cleaning was in order. Now if I could just get over my adolescent desire to just shove everything in the closet and call the room "clean..."

I didn't report on the third High Power match I shot a few weeks back, well, because the results are embarassing. I spent time working on my prone position, and lost ground (bigtime) on standing offhand, and sitting.

I'm still working on the second acoustic piece for the single w/ Jerry, and I'll get around to posting a finished version sometime this weekend, I hope.

Now, on to a meatier post for the day.

Flooding

I didn't post anything yet because I had my fingers crossed that there'd be nothing to report, but it's official:

Saukville is under water, and it's leaking into my basement.

Now, I really don't have mush to complain about, because the 40 or so gallons I've shop-vac'd out of my carpeting down there is nothing considering the fact that my basement floor is now several feet (like 3-4) under the water level outside. But, that does mean it's going to be seeping in around the base of the outside walls until the water level recedes. I'll post some during-and-after flooding pictures when the water gets back down to normal.

EDIT: I think we're going to go check to see if the DPW needs help filling sandbags this afternoon.

High-Power Rifle Match #2

Well, I just got back from my second High-Power match. Again, this was at West Bend Barton Sportsmans' Club, and was 4 ten round relays of 10 shots each. I scored a 298 this time (out of a possible 400), and my groupings were much better. I've got to get used to having a slightly different zero in the different positions, and that will bring the groups closer to the center. I hope to hit at least 84% next match, which will put me into the Sharpshooter class. I did the math, and if they all go in the black, you're there.

On another note, instead of taking the handicap and shooting the rapid fire relays in two strings of 5, at 70 seconds each, I used charging clips borrowed from my buddy to shoot all 10 in 70 seconds. It was a blast! Let me tell you, I don't doubt that a squad of men with bolt actions and a ready supply of ammo on chargers could lay down a TON of fire. I'm going to pick up some of the chargers and plan on using them from now on.

Oh, score breakdown was:
Offhand, Slow (200 yards): 75
Sitting, Rapid (200 yards): 81
Prone, Rapid (300 yards): 75
Prone, Slow (600 yards): 67

On reduced targets (SR-1, SR-1, SR-21, and MR-31, respectively), shot at 100 yards.

Shades of Sorrow - My Way (Acoustic)

Well, here it is. Jerry Bakkus composed the music and lyrics, and performed the main guitar and solo, as well as the lead vocals. I performed the harmony guitar and vocals parts, and engineered the recording and mixdown on my home PC.

Another Lapse...

Well, I've stumbled into another several week long lapse in posting, but hey, I've been busy.

Ok, that's an excuse for being lazy.

I've gotten a bunch of stuff done around the house (landscaping and such), and I've been out at the range several times a week lately. I picked up a used Remington 597 for a plinker/practice gun, and I'm in the process of setting it up with aperture sights.

On the musical front, Jerry (the mastermind) and I have laid down tracks for an acoustic version of one of our songs, and I'm doing mixdown right now. I hope to post the song in the next few days, and then it'll be on to the next track. We want to do a little 3-song disc for our press pack.

I'm shooting a High-Power match this Sunday with my K-31. I've got the sights tweaked (smaller aperture for the Mojo rear sight) and I'm all in the black on the SR-1, SR-21, and MR-31 targets, including mostly 8-10 ring hits. I STILL don't have a single X-ring credit to my name, though...

Also this Sunday, is the Great Lakes Dragaway BOP (Buick, Olds, Pontiac) days race. I'm not going to be able to make it down for the money race by the time the match is over, so I'm thinking of heading down for fun racing. GLD recently went back to NHRA sanctioning, though, and the prices are pretty rediculous. It's $37 for fun racing, plus $25 for spectating. I'm sorry, but I wouldn't pay that much for anything other than a national-level event for spectating. I drive my race car to the track, so in addition to about 16 gallons of racing fuel, now I've got to add $65 at the gate for my wife and I? I'll let you all know how she does...

Yard Work Day

Well, my parents had (SURPRISE!) my Christmas/Birthday present delivered to the driveway on Thursday: several cubic yards of mulch and #1 Stone. We're digging a 1'x1' ditch around the garage and filling it with the stone to increase drainage, and we're mulching all the flower beds, and around the hedge. I'll try to post a pic when we're done...

I'm currently taking a lunch break while the 'rents went to let their dogs out, and we'll be back at it in a few minutes here!

Oh, and I dug out a decorative bed of lava rock - and it was 10 freakin' inches deep! I filled two garbage cans and some other misc. containers with it all before deciding it will look nice on top of the stone around the garage.

My First Rifle Match

My friend Brian invited me out to West Bend Barton Sportsmen's Club for a military rifle shoot yesterday. I recently join the Saukville Rifle and Pistol Club (more on that in a later post), so I was able to get out on Friday night to try and get my K-31 on paper, as I hadn't yet shot it, and I replaced the rear sight with a MOJO aperature unit.

I got it pretty well sighted in at 50 yards, and I was going to be shooting at 100yds Sunday, so I figured I'd be close enough. Oops. I freaked out a little bit when my first shot wasn't on paper, but I tweaked the sights a little bit and got lucky on my second sighting shot. The shoot consisted of four stages, each of ten rounds, with two sighting shots (they actually do you a favor and drop the lowest two scores):

1) Standing, no sling, slow fire (10 rounds in 8 minutes IIRC)

2) Sitting, w/ sling, rapid fire (B/c I'm shooting a bolt action I got two strings of 5 rounds here, 70 seconds each. Everyone with a semi-auto got 70 seconds for 10 rounds)

3) Prone, w/ sling, rapid fire. (10 rounds in 70 seconds. Again, I was able to do two strings of five each here.)

4) Prone, w/ sling, slow fire. (10 rounds in 8 minutes)

The first two are shot on a standard 100yd NRA high-power rifle target, the third stage was shot on a simulated 300yd target, and the fourth was shot on a 600yd simulated target.

My scores (give me a break, I'm new to this rifle thing):
1) 66
2) 71
3) 45
4) 42

So, a 224 out of a possible 400. Ironically, my best score was rapid fire sitting, where I forgot to use my sling as permitted, and instead just had it taught against the side of the rifle. I'm not so sure I would have done much better otherwise, though. Next month I'll do better, but I'll have to put some rounds downrange in the meantime. I just need to remember to take it slow and easy, and concentrate on getting my sight picture consistent.

Snow Job

Well, Saukville got about 20" of snow yesterday; my brilliant employers decided to have us come in for work, and then an hour before I was done anyways, in the thick of the snowfall, they shut down operations and sent us all home. Yup, "C'mon in, the weather's fine," followed by "OMFG this storm is too much - everyone go drive in it!"

Anyways, another gripe I have is that Ozaukee County is horrible about clearing I-43. It took me an hour an a half to get to my job on Milwaukee's East Side this morning, and as soon as I past the county line, the freeway was perfectly clear. Haruumpphh.

Established Rock Band...

...seeking experienced and highly-motivated bass player in the Milwaukee area. We have about 16 original songs (we play some covers as well), some of which can be heard on our myspace page, and we are also looking at changing our name. We practice 1-2 times per week, playing 3-5 times per month when we're busy.

Our good friend Eric moved out to the D.C. area to pursue a career there, and now we need to find someone before the band loses momentum.

Maybe if I get good at the blogging thing, I'll clean up the myspace page as well - I don't want to volunteer myself for anything though . . .

Welcome

Welcome, all, to my new Blog. I will try to keep things upbeat and interesting here, but bear with these first few posts while I set up some links, play with format, and stabalize my footing.