"Needs Must" Two-Two .22"

 Are you a Lover or a Hater ? 

Moi? - I really like them .. but there again , - I also love the 9 mm, 10 mm, .38" S&W, 327 Fed.Mag., .32 acp, .38" S&W Special, and the Black Powder percussion Round Balls in .44" - .36" and .31" soft lead .. True - I don't much like the big powerful magnum rounds.

BUT there's a big butt about making wise choices eh .. It all depends on The Variables

What are you allowed to have? - What is the expected target? -  How good are you? - How much can you afford? - How is your hearing? - How is your Hand-Eye co-ordination? - How often do you train?

Good Stuff

People have been discussing the .22 LONG RIFLE since it was introduced back in 1887.. and I imagine, unless they get "Ray Guns" - they will still argue about it's effectiveness in the distant future 2287.

There are good reasons why so many two-two rounds are made every year 

2.5 BILLION. - The 5.6x15mmR is a little beauty eh. They can't make enough of them.

The usual discussion in U S is about suitability when used as "Carry for Self Defense" - A "taboo" or tapu topic currently, in approved New Zealand society. - Sure a .22" won't knock any animal off it's feet .. but Low recoil and easy to control & shoot in a decent gun ..

We have no wild elephants in Texas and millions of .22's... I wonder...

- Yes there are stories about elephants ... NO. 

- However I have personally seen a fullsized cattle beast drop from a .22" L.R in the back of it's Australian skull - when on it's way to the freezer ..

The two main arguments against using the .22" L.R rimfire cartridge are well known.

1/- It is UNDERPOWERED .. for what purpose ?

2/- It is UNRELIABLE  .. failure to feed and/or failure to fire.

As a RIMMED cartridge - it is not properly shaped for best functioning in an "auto".

Hmm - for most thin skinned game .. a properly placed small caliber bullet will penetrate and kill instantly. A "GREAT WAR" British Military Treatise on Ammunition dated 1915 referring to shrapnel round ball-bullets (page 173) determines that 60 foot/pounds energy is effective to disable. - The typical .22" L.R. rimfire has 120 ft/lbs - while a .22 Short may also exceed 60 ft/lbs. Link to British military Ref..

https://photos.imageevent.com/badgerdog/generalstorage/1915treatiseonammunition/TreatiseOnAmmunition1915.pdf

- Would anyone with an IQ above 40 choose to use a .22" L.R. on DANGEROUS PREDATORS? - NO

Most SEMI-AUTO firearms will demonstrate preferances for ammunition BRANDS and cartridge BULLET SHAPE, WEIGHT, - POWER & VELOCITY. - Sensible folk buy and try before deciding what to use.

The truly wise two-two shooter may opt for a manual BOLT or LEVER ACTION rifle or a REVOLVER handgun.

Good Quality ammunition reliably fires consistantly whereas bulk loose-packed budget bargains reliably FAIL TO FIRE a small percentage of trigger pulls.

The .22" L.R Rimfire Cartridge requires a heavier firing pin strike to ignite than most Center Fire cartridge PRIMERS. This requires generally a HEAVIER TRIGGER PULL.

- If you lighten that trigger pull you may lighten the FIRING PIN hit and suffer failures ..

If you buy cheap ammo and use it untried in a cheap gun - don't bet your life on it.

Nuff said?

Marty K.

Survival Kits (home made) ..

 I just watched a recent 'Survival Lilly' video from Austria showing her loaded tin can:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3O7f5ZMlE8

This is one SMART CHICK and I recommend you subscribe to her channel for a European slant on being prepared for the worse.

Her video reminded me to open up one of MY handy kits and to refresh the food items in it.

If you think this is un-needed crap - that's OK by me .. but I've lived here through three big earthquakes.

LOOK .. we live in a SHAKY SORT OF PLACE here in NZ - and we are living in truly awful times, regarding worldwide destructive warfare & NUCLEAR RISK.

If you reckon that the Government has got everything under control and that you'll be OK ... have you considered taking an IQ Test - to indicate just how good is your judgement? - Relying on others for your ongoing wellfare is not smart. - Yes there truly are some good folk out there and I'm sure that YOU are their No.1 priority at all times .. but they might not be around .. they might themselves be injured or worse .. or looking after their own issues.

Here's my Cheapo BILLY from the Wharehouse ..

and inside it's full .. "innit" - I'll swap-out the soup sachets and tea bags but they'll be fine as totally dry - they'd remain "edible" for years even after a nuclear winter ..

Here is another wee 'pocket tin' below full of fire lighting stuff ..

Windproof-Waterproof-(nukeproof?) matches - Bic Lighter - Ferrocerrium Rod & striker,

- the Cotton Pads have been stuffed with Vaseline Petroleum Jelly for fire starting ..

Bug-Out Bags: - If you've got somewhere BETTER to go ..

We all live in our own little worlds .. but I keep a fully loaded pantry with canned & dry foods (plus sealed jugs of water) to keep me going. - So why would I go anywhere else?

Modern 'Old Fashioned' PANTRY .. Looking a bit light 'between shops'

- More Tins Would Be Good eh:

 When morons were fighting in Supermarket aisles over toilet paper, bottled water and empty shelves - I stayed at home, well out of it, for weeks.

Got water? - Got iodine tablets? - got a camping stove?

Just Saying,

Marty K.

LEAD Intoxication:

 I don't have money and I don't particularly want money .. What I do want is a long happy life with some toys to play with - Ask the psychopath billionaires how happy are they?

Here's a question .. Do you remember when the story was that we elected a government to do what we needed to have organised for us? - How did that morph into a privileged elite management, scheming how to harvest our resources for the benefit of the top 1% millionaires and themselves?

So we now have act inside government and a "review" of some aspects of the current divisive & punitive firearms laws promised - Great, that's going to fix everything I bet ...

____________

Now I'm not trying to be a "smart ass" here .. but generally most of us think that being INTOXICATED means that we've drunk too much alcohol and have become "pissed".

- Go back to basics - toxins are poisons - and 'in' means you've got them inside you .. so intoxicated means that you are poisoned  (.. yes - alcohol is a poison) !

Now lead is no way such a deadly poison as say CYANIDE  - but if you are regularly playing with it ballistically, you do need to be aware & careful. - After a shooting trip - WASH YOUR HANDS & FACE BEFORE YOU EAT.

- If you are scrubbing lead out of your barrel - maybe wear throw-away gloves ..

As shooters we need to consider that LEAD if we ingest it - is capable of being a toxic substance to us. - The big issue with LEADED PETROL and "white lead" in paints was mostly about kids having exposure to lead oxide dust when their wee brains are developing and vulnerable .. it's probably too late for us big folk to develop our brains much further eh - except by reading - but many cartridge primers contain  lead styphnate that vaporises when fired. - Our skin electrostatically attracts lead dust.

I've introduced a few new shooters to safe gun use. It is a fair observation that FEMALE first time shooters are in general, cautious, safe and accurate - whereas the guys were a mixed bunch depending on which movies they had seen and liked. - The girls listened to guidance - whereas some jokers knew it all already. I bet females wash their hands more than males or others.

TOXIC Lead de-myelinates neuronal sheaths in the central nervous system - stunting neuronal growth and it interfears with neurotransmission.

LEAD in the HEAD SLOWS DOWN YOUR BRAin.

Myelin is an insulating layer, or sheath that forms around the nerves in the brain and spinal cord. It is made up of protein and fatty substances. The myelin sheath allows electrical impulses to transmit quickly and efficiently along the nerve cells. 

If your myelin is damaged, those thought impulses slow down.

Sure - a chunk of high velocity lead in the brain almost certainly will be final .. but minute quantities absorbed into the bloodstream, that then move into that wonderful center of consciousness, can eff-up the rest of your days.

Could shooter's brain damage explain why NZ Shooters Organizations here have done NOTHING to fight anti-gun, - ANTI-SHOOTER legislation and Police hostility?

Care & good hygiene are needed when working with lead.

The good news is  - that you can counter loosing your marbles by eating healthy vegetable based low fat tasty foods .. by developing healthy sleep habits - and by using your brain to LEARN NEW STUFF & by exercising 

.. A double plus whammy - Learn how to make Thai Vegetable Red Curry ..

Marty K.

U S NeoCons are KLINGONS:

Shake hands with America NZ - "It's been Great guys .. really enjoyed partying with you - Oh is that the time? We have to be at a barbecue with the CHINESE .. See ya." 

- Sell your Dollars and Buy YUAN   CN¥.. if we survive the crap that's going down, kiwis will need Yuan & rubles.

Remember the Star Trek KLINGON Warriors? - the guys with the bloodlust who wanted to settle every disagreement with warfare & slaughter ? 

Well the Neoconservative rulers of America - which ONCE was the most powerful MILITARY and Economic FORCE on the planet - they still think that they & their vasssals can march out from any of their 800 overseas bases and bomb every sub-species non-american into Hell and take whatever they want.

Their "spokespersons" sell these actions pretending to be White Hat Warriors bringing democracy & justice to the world - but reality is that they are billionaire insurgents killing anyone they fancy by dumping their old stock WMD's - before the expiry dates.

America's war-dependent Economy is BANKRUPT with a 34 TRILLION DOLLAR DEBTand their military is neglected, reduced and weakened. - They are a corrupt administration living on delusions of their own advertising campaign PR.

 - China's debt is around 11 Billion Dollars but they have invested 1 TRILLION on their BELT & ROAD Development Initiatives to their West & South ..

- Nothing contraversial here then ..

Outdated Antique KLINGON DISRUPTOR PISTOL ..

Both branches of their political Uniparty could consider getting rid-of their red/blue wonkie-donkey or hephalump images and adopting the Klingon edged weapon insignia ..

- Sure, U S has a surfeit of NUCLEAR WEAPONS - some 5,000 plus - enough to destroy civilization around fifty times .. so these pysochopaths can kill us all any time they choose - but that might NOT be very profitable for their military-congressional-industrial complex. - They would have to climb up out of their deep bunker eventually eh. 

- I have liked EVERY American I've met - but their criminal greedy government is rubbish.

GENOCIDAL MANIACS:

We raise & slaughter some 70 Billion chickens every year .. but it surely might be time to start treating ourselves as more valued than flavorless water-injected chicken carcases and to cut to zero the 0ne Million Humans we kill in warfare EVERY YEAR?

_______________

SIXTY YEARS AGO on November 22 - a conspiracy of  U S Intelligence agencies, Military Officers & Mafia Killers ASSASSINATED THE PRESIDENT OF AMERICA. They planned their coup d'etat and executed a plot to get rid of the one man stopping them invading CUBA and VIET NAM.

The current incompetent venal president is still preventing the release of historic FACT sixty years later - because it would be damning evidence of a corrupt political system that he is part of.

What happened to Ukraine? What's happening to Israel?

Have a great day, - and buy a gun.

Marty K.

A Cocky Hammer Head:

Quote from The Firingline. com .. 

“Don't take life so serious, son, it ain't nohow permanent.

No excuses but .. I bought this 170 year old original Colt '1849 Pocket Model' percussion revolver fully knowing it was buggered. - Among it's faults, the HAMMER was the central issue - you should be able to clearly see, that compared to a half-decent one, it's nose is beaten out of shape by banging into the rounded rear shoulder of the cylinder .. 

And an even more tricky repair job will be fixing the cocking notches where the hand pivot hole has broken through at the bottom of the hammer. - Don't go off half-cocked eh.

Two ORIGINAL 170 Year Old Colt 1849 Percussion Hammers

- One damaged by Colonialism .. The other well adjusted, multi-generational, non-binary.

I reckon 170 years is some six generations - & this old revolver looks as if the last five generations of boy-child have spent their summer days running around paddocks, whacking this gun while shouting BangBang You're Dead at the hoggets ..

A SKILLED welder is needed here ... Luckily the EAGLE ENGINEERING team who helped repair my Ruger Old Army .44 stainless steel Base Pin some eight years back are still in business near Amberley. - They are friendly, helpful and experienced metal workers ..

'bits'n'pieces'

Well - what else are you going to do?

Metal added, that's a start then .. it seems that the broken hole/cocking notch area may have been silver soldered previously - so we ground-off that area before welding. Back home, hand filing the new steel to profile made me appreciate the advantages of 3-D Printing, and CNC machining ..

Metal removed, three days spent hand-filing surplus welded steel to shape whenever I was "in the mood" was OK - but once an area was near to shape it got really nerve racking .. you DON'T want to turn a working surface into swarf  iron filings eh .. 

- OBSERVATIONS: Do Not Do This At Home. ( Peanuts may contain Peanuts)( Hot Drink may be HOT)

1/- Everytime I needed both hands at a critical point - my nose developed a demanding itch .. and 1a/-  Just two more strokes of the file should do it .. I HAVE TO PEE right now. 

2/- The smaller size the screw - the more often you'll drop it.

3/- A decent new sharp file makes SO much difference to life ..

4/- the first re-assembly truly seemed to want to function, but the hammer was slipping-off my hand-filed sear notches ... so strip it all out again and recut the notches deeper & sharper - back into the frame (with more screw dropping)

- AND IT WORKS .. truly a miracle (maybe there is hope?)

Fully Cocked 6 Inch On My Dickies-Dirt

And Yes - that is my new front sight loose at the muzzle ..

- Reality arrives -  don't get all excited here - as I've now re-assembled the other, 5 inch good untouched 1849 gun SEVEN TIMES .. and I still can't get it to work - it just wants to lock-up solid !

Life is Good,

Marty K.

d.i.y Novelty Nitro Ignition Stuff

 In the 1880's  - the owner of a billiard saloon in Colorado wrote to 'Hyatt' about the explosive nature of his artificial ivory billiard balls, - saying that he did not mind very much personally, but for the fact that every man in his saloon immediately pulled a gun at the sound.

These 'Hyatt' Billiard balls were made from a layer of camphorated nitrocellulose over a plaster core and when chipped by hard impact - the fragments could loudly self ignite. 

I just bought some FLASH PAPER over the internet - it burns brightly without residue - from a trader called Fruugo .. this wasn't expensive and I was curious as to would it arrive in NZ. It did.

Now I was thinking about building improved Blackpowder paper cartridges - as the usual nitrated paper definately leaves fragments in the revolver's chambers. 

"Flash Paper" as used by stage magicians is reckoned to be made from nitrocellulose. 

- Is this a good idea?

COMBUSTIBLE Paper Cartridge ..

Sam Colt started making self-contained Tinfoil cartridges for the Military around 1840 and later around 1850, for his own percussion revolvers.

The usual combustibles are built using NITRATED PAPER or ready packaged ZIG-ZAG papers

I'm going to make my next run using home nitrated 'coffee filter paper' thinking they'll look more authentic.

Coffee Paper-Filters - Saltpetre - and WET Flash Paper 

freshly Couriered from China (nitrocellulose):

Now I don't want to be a "Killjoy" but I seriously doubt that it's a good idea to wrap little parcels of 'antique propellant' in Nitrocellulose paper. That compound is known to auto-ignite if it degrades with time .. depending on it's purity .. Sure it might be OK but why take chances when others have already found issues?

Another overseas order I'm waiting for is some 'Prime-All'  RePriming Compound and a No.11 Percussion Cap Maker ordered from U S supplier SHARPSHOOTER ..

https://22lrreloader.com/?syclid=aea72de1-3bbd-484d-b857-69dbf12b39fb

This may be another satisfying project for an old shooter eh ..

Marty K.

Ballistic Stuff & Old Colt Revolvers ..

Did you know that in 1944 America, under Roosevelt - top rate income tax was set at 94% - for every top dollar earned you got only 6 cents after tax ? - Check it out yourself 

NOW - I Googled "new ballistic technology" thinking I must be missing the latest developments .. but it seems that now is the time to despair -  as there isn't anything new out there. Full Stop. - But I did find these guys making their own bullet-proof Body Armour from cheap fibre-glass welding blankets & epoxy resin. Good Effort eh:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxRJPVhuxh8

_______________

I'm fully aware that people can become soft in the head when aged .. this is a consideration if, like me - you were born during the second world war. - I have bought another collectable old Colt .. this one is a six inch barreled five shot 1849 percussion 'Pocket Pistol' . - Now, in my defence, this antique cap-n-ball fivegun is a cheapish restoration-project-hobby investment, for fun. (Yes I'm still allowed to have fun.)

It was 'battered' dirty, rusty, & is inoperable .. had no front sight and looks to have been a "pow pow - you're dead" play-thing for generations of stupid boys. - So I bought it.

- Strange to say but the bore is in fair condition for an original 170 year old beater.

- well that bore is better than my other two .. It hasn't been scoured with a spinning wire brush. I'd love to see photos of an original unfired Colt's bore to compare the finish of the rifling.

Top Gun is the latest Antique 'new toy' displaying my current pick of Swanndri shirt a

 6 inch Pocket 1849, middle - 5 inch Pocket '49, bottom - 1861 New Model Navy' 

.. Just an observation but each of these grips is brown walnutty-colour with no sign at all of any original alkanet root RED stain eh - perhaps the 'red' just fades over years of abuse.

As bought .. the loading-lever CATCH was loose in it's 'dovetail' under the muzzle - this was readily fixed by peigning down the pouting lips of the dovetail cut with a small hammer. The silver plated brass bottom face of the grip back-strap had been beaten-in by use as a pole-axe .. so I annealed it, heating with a butane torch until the flame turned orangy (indicating it was starting to burn-off copper molecules) and knocked it back flat. - Interestingly the silver plating remnants hung on unmoved.

Every 'notch' records a hammering eh ..

 The missing Front Sight has now been reinstated with an over tall home-made length of 1/8 brass rod hand filed to step-down to 1/16th and fitted using the same wee hammer - and locked into place ..

Easy to remove 3 or 4 mm some time in the future (already done). My initial check shows the arbor/basepin is slightly bent up, - the loading lever is also a little forced - and the hammer's Hand pivot hole has broken through the sear face plus the 'nose' impact face is badly deformed. - Welding and re-shaping required - Oh that nice surface shine is some kitchen Canola Oil .. a perfect 'cheap-as' black powder lubricant, especially good for moist conditions.

- I'm loving it .. so tell me that Age Related Dementia /Alzheiners hasn't arrived? 

 Dementia is not a specific disease. It's an umbrella term that describes a wide range of symptoms. These symptoms affect people's ability to perform everyday activities on their own. The Mayo clinic says Common symptoms of dementia include:

• • A decline in memory, Changes in thinking skills
  • Poor judgment and reasoning skills
  • Decreased focus and attention, Changes in behavior

- Interesting Video from Mike of Duellists Den fitting new FRONT SIGHTS by cutting dovetails to 1851 Colt replica barrels :

https://rumble.com/v3q59rp-making-1851-navy-revolvers-hit-where-theyre-aimed.html

Marty K.