Jimro

I don't know how many of ya'll have been following the microstamping broohaha but one of the major proponents of microstamping stated that it would be cheaper than widespread implementation of IBIS. I'm not so sure that I buy that line considering the IBIS system is a one time purchase of lab equipment and a smaller maintenance cost while microstamping affects the price of every firearm sold in the US. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,323586,00.html Jimro

There were two k98 factories that had a two letter code, JP Sauer's code was "ce" and the Mauser, Borsigwalde code was "ar". Hope this helps. Jimro

I should clarify, the Finnish school shooting got a lot of press for about a week. German school shootings always get a short blurb in "international" section of cnn.com. They don't get the mass hand wringing hysteria that a US school/mall shooting does, with experts weighing in on how it could have been prevented by stricter gun control. I get most of my news from the internet so I probably have an easier time sorting through the BS than someone who gets a local paper and watches the evening news... But we get our way in this political climate by having good lobbyists who can sell the Israeli model of public security to congress. Unless we can get a mass education campaign that lets people see the disastrous course gun control/confiscation will take us down then there is no way to affect the legislation of a democracy without having very well funded lobbyists. Jimro

A metrosexual is a straight guy who acts like a chick. Jimro

Karl, I understand your point, after all what you predict is the way of Europe. But Germany has quite a number of school shootings every year, and the well publicized Finnish school shooting last year makes it clear that the "gun limit" policies are completely ineffective at reducing "mass slaughter". However, the Israeli model of armed teachers and a volunteer security force made up mainly of grandparents has shown to be effective at deterring those who would endanger our children. We don't need the European model, we need the Israeli model. Jimro

They've already banned guns from schools, obviously taking them away again will have just as much effect. Jimro

The 9x18 Makarov bullets are .365 diameter, and being only a thousandth off of the actual bore of the 9.3 isn't bad. The folks that use the 45 ACP (.452 caliber) out of .458 bore rifles don't seem to have too much problem. I'm thinking that a few grains of Unique or Red Dot would push a 90 grain Makarov bullet down the bore fast enough for a nice plinking/short range varmint round. Jimro

Heck, according to the Violence Policy Center making a rifle "semi auto only" makes it MORE lethal because every shot can be carefully aimed! So I say leave the three round burst, after all it's for the children! And no I didn't make that up about the VPC. Jimro

Just how big of a screw up do you have to be to retire a Captain? Unless you spent ten years enlisted, went to OCS and did ten years as an officer getting passed over for Major at least three times and forced into retirement, I can't think of any way to retire a Captain from active duty. Maybe he retired as a Captain from the Reserves or National Guard? I want to know this guys record. Just cause you are an Army officer doesn't mean you ever went somewhere and did something. Who knows, maybe this guy is a legitimate war hero, but my guess is REMF. Jimro

Now that is a good question, would I hack a Brown Bess? The answer is maybe. The Brown Bess was a handcrafted firearm made before Simeon North and Eli Whitney competed for a government contract for interchangeable parts in firearms. That means every Brown Bess was a handmade one of a kind, unique. However I can't see myself trying to turn a 230+ year old smoothbore musket into anything but a smoothbore musket, so no I probably wouldn't sporterize it, but I probably wouldn't shoot it either. Maybe I could make some .68 to .30 caliber sabots for a fin stabilized projectile.... As far as that Arisaka in original condition, I ain't going to argue, but I think that the Swede sniper variants are more to my taste. Jimro

What makes one war "more historical" than another? I mean the War for Independence was a pretty historical war, as was the Boer War, and the Winter War. Some would even argue that the American Civil war has more historical importance than WWII. But is the history of any given event somehow locked into the objects of destruction built for that war? Or are they locked in the photographs, letters, campaign documents, and graveyards? To me history is stories, personal connections, and rifles don't seem to convey either of these. Jimro

Prvi Partizan makes 9.3x62, but it sells out fast at 20 bucks a box. Norma and RWS are a tad more exensive. If you plan on reloading everything then pick the one you want. Between the two I picked the x62, and it's gonna be my rifle for everything an 8x57 or 30-06 shouldn't be tackling. Right now it's at the 'smith. Jimro

That is exactly my point, the history of that rifle is personal to you and your family. The story is there, the memories are linked across generations. That is exactly what I would call historical value. The same way we hold onto any heirloom and cherish it for it's connection to our past. But a Russian capture k98? Sure the individual rifle has a story, but it can't tell that story to you. All we know is "I was built in Germany in such a year, possibly fought in WWII on the Eastern Front and was captured at some point, counterbored at some point, re-arsenaled badly at some point by the soviets". The personal touch isn't there. I think that is why folks have been buying up K31's and looking for the slip of paper under the buttstock that has the name of the soldier who carried it, it makes personal connections. The WWII era rifle that never got used doesn't have much history to it, but the stories of the person who carried does and it has the automatic identification with the original "Nation of Riflemen". To me the simple monetary collectors value isn't enough of a reason to condemn sporterizing, sure the rifles have history, but if it doesn't have personal history then it's just another hunk of metal and wood. Example, my Dad bought a barreled Mauser action years ago as a project. He fitted the stock, my mother used her tip money from waitressing to have the metal finished, I finished the stock and installed an aftermarket trigger. The rifle turned out very nice, but in the end it was more about how we interacted over the twenty odd years it took to complete the rifle than the country of origin of the action. Jimro

Why? And would it be ok to alter it to another configuration? Such as reworking a Gew98 into a k98? Or a k98 into a sniper variant? What exactly is the historical value of an untouched specimen? It has already been brought up that collectors will pay more in the future for certain models, but that is a monetary value, such as any commodity. But a doubloon isn't just any other gold coin, it has a value intrinsic to the gold it was cast from, but also the romance of pirates and conquistadors. Is the history of a rifle so romantic in our common imagination that it somehow becomes worth more? Jimro

You know history means different things to different people. For example the hippies (granola eating northwest variety) had no problem wearing milsurp clothing even though it might have been used by some brainwashed baby killing service man at some point. The history of WWII is well documented. But the history of the individual rifles has often been lost save for "Russian Capture" or remarked by Yugoslavia or redone by Israel. So what is the historical value of a Mosin Nagant or k98? How do we quantify it into meaningful terms? A single battleship holds more tangible history to me than an old rifle. Don't get me wrong, I love old rifles and I know if some of them could talk the stories they tell would entrance me for hours. But they aren't storytellers. They are tools that I use for my enjoyment. And any modifications that I make become part of that rifles history as sure as WWII. So if someone devalues their possession to make it more personal, I'm ok with that. Jack O'Connor had two custom 1903 Springfields, both with Sukail barrels. One in 270 just like his famous pre-64 Winchester m70, and the other in 30-06. To me the history of the civilian owner and his impact on the shooting sports is every bit as important as the service of the 1903 from WWII through Vietnam. Jimro

Tony, it is quite simple. Men have a ladder scale rating (all) women that they would sleep with from "Would brag about" to "would sleep with but deny it" to "needs beer goggles and I'll still deny it". Women have two ladder scales. One for men they will sleep with (notice that I didn't say "have a relationship with") and one for "friends". Notice that "friends" don't get laid a lot. So when a woman dress up to get someone on her "will sleep with" ladder she attracts the attention of men on both ladders, but since she only meant to have the men on her "would sleep with" ladder she gets offended when someone she considers on the "friends" ladder notices her state of dress (or undress). Clear as mud? Ever heard the phrase "I just don't think about you that way." If you have then you are on the "friends" ladder. The phrase "That's an awesome Ferrari you have" probably means you aren't on the friends ladder. For more info on the Ladder theory, go here http://www.intellectualwhores.com/masterladder.html Jimro

I wonder if the old Kleinguenther can still live up to the "One MOA or less" guarantee. Jimro

You know, a few years back that article could have been written about Mr. Ford and his mass produced Model T. A car that people could afford... Not such a radical new concept. Jimro

Well... if I REALLY REALLY REALLY wanted to fix this foul up, it would require, A ceramic mold in the shape of the bolt recess area, and a ceramic funnel with an opening the size of the hole. A bit of equal parts iron and aluminum oxide powders, mixed together and ground fine in a ceramic mortar and pestle. This is thermite and it burns hot, and leaves reduced molten iron as a byproduct. And a hand held propane torch or other heat source. Block off the lug recess area with the ceramic mold, position the ceramic funnel touching right over the hole, pack the funnel with a few grams of thermite, touch it off with the propane torch (be careful of sparks!). The molten iron will fall down into the open spaces and fill ANY gaps and ruin any heat treatment. Then wait for the receiver to cool, break the ceramic mold from the lug recess area, and hopefully only a bit of polishing is needed to clean up any stray metal that stuck where it wasn't supposed to. If not then it wouldn't be too hard to build a tool to machine the lug recess area back to spec. Obviously the receiver now needs a heat treatment. This is a heckuva lot of work for a Spanish receiver. Jimro

I can't tell you what to do with the donations, but I recommend storing the excess for next year Jimro

Sounds like Boris had a good time too. Jimro

War brings out the extremes in people, the very best and the very worst. As far as the Geneva Convention goes, it requires medical personnel to treat casualties based on seriousness of injury irregardless of nationalitity. This works out fine when modern industrialized nations fight, German doctors treating allied casualties, allied docs treating krauts. Doesn't make much sense when the other side is a bunch of camel loving goatherds who can't even spell penicillin. But then again war isn't supposed to make sense, at least not at our level. As a junior officer you can rest assured that my boys come first. I'm responsible for those men, not for enemy. Jimro

When I went through OCS one of our textbooks was "For the Common Defense", a history of the US military from the pre-revolutionary militia's all the way to Desert Storm. While one history book does not make me an expert, it gave me a very neat overview of the relationship between professional soldiers and the militia prior to 1905, and the reason for the formation of the Reserve and National Guard as an "organized militia" separate from the common militia. No amount of revisionist history can take away the role of the common man as part of our militia. Pass this little bit of law around to your lawyer friends. TITLE 10 > Subtitle A > PART I > CHAPTER 13 > § 311 § 311. Militia: composition and classes (a) The militia of the United States consists of all able-bodied males at least 17 years of age and, except as provided in section 313 of title 32, under 45 years of age who are, or who have made a declaration of intention to become, citizens of the United States and of female citizens of the United States who are members of the National Guard. ( The classes of the militia are— (1) the organized militia, which consists of the National Guard and the Naval Militia; and (2) the unorganized militia, which consists of the members of the militia who are not members of the National Guard or the Naval Militia. Which is why it irks me terribly that National Guardsmen obeyed the unlawful order to confiscate firearms after Katrina. FEMA does not replace the constitution. Jimro

"Well Regulated" is be best understood as "effective". An effective militia being necessary to the security of a free state... During the time you had "regulars" and "irregular" troops, and "well regulated" means that the troops would be an effective fighting force, composed of both "regular" and "irregular" troops. The various "militia acts" passed by congress between 1791 and 1905 clearly show that ordinary citizens are the militia, a legal precedent we still have to this day in US code. I think that a law student should know this. Jimro

The UN does not have the authority, but don't tell them that. The "non-binding" UN resolution has all the legal authority of toilet paper, though not the usefulness. Renouncing your US citizenship is a bad idea. It seems to me that this is a very small movement within the Lakota community, kinda like the very vocal hippy minority trying to stop military shipments through the Port of Olympia in Washington. Jimro