Reverend Recoil

I spent some time at Camp Q-West. Some of my engineering design and construction projects are a new waste water treatment plant and a garbage incinerator. During that time one of the fellows trapped a large porcupine. It was the 5th one trapped in a month. The porcupines had been raiding a warehouse full of MRE's. Their teeth rip right through the MRE cartons. The porcupines eat the M&M's, fudge brownies, and peanut butter and leave the rest. They are some of the fattest porcupines in Iraq. All five of them were released fifteen miles outside of camp. The fellows at the water works trapped a mongoose and have kept it in a cage as a pet. It is about the size of a fox squirle. No petting is allowed. That mongoose is the meanest little critter I have ever seen. It is fed food from the chow hall. Hard boiled eggs are its favorite. This little mongoose can devour three hard boiled eggs in one minute. I will try to get a picture of it next time. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v494/dwa...6/P2200086a.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v494/dwa...6/P2200093a.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v494/dwa...6/P2200097a.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v494/dwa...6/P2200099a.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v494/dwa...6/P2200108a.jpg

Being in Iraq, I have not watched TV in almost a year. I don't miss it.

In Baghdad last week a squad of insurgents tried to enter one of the Allied camps during the night. They were spotted by a security sniper team and were shot dead one by one as they climbed over a concrete wall. Nine were killed by the time a reactionary security force arrived. Five insurgents were captured alive and taken to one of the correctional facilities. The strange thing is, all of the insurgents were naked and completely covered in mud. When questioned about their nakedness, the insurgents said that they had watched the movie “Predator” the night before. In the movie “Predator”, the hunted character played by Arnold Schwarzenegger covered himself with mud so as to be invisible to the infra-red vision of the alien predator. These insurgents thought that if they were naked and covered with mud they could not be seen by the US Army’s night vision scopes. “If it worked for Arnold, it should work for us”, so they thought. Thanks to Hollywood fantasy, fourteen insurgents are now out of action.

"Wouldn't it be nice to own your own gun manufacturer?" The niceness would be worn off in bankruption court. It would be nicer to own a profitable gun manufacturer even if it only produced BB-guns. The sole purpose of a corporation is to increase the wealth of the owners. If US Repeating Arms cannot produce a quality product, sell it a price above their cost, and at price that enough people are willing to pay, then they deserve to go out of business. That is the law of free market capitolism. Is there some organization in American that do a better job than US Repeating Arms? Maybe, maybe not.

I got two DCM Garrands for $124.00 each in 1983. I had a girl friend qualify with me at the time.

I suppose sporting clays and lampoon don't mix very well. Its just as well. I have a much more rewarding time with this forum than with any other.

Listed below is the topic I started on the Sporting Clays Forum. It was deleted by the moderator. No reason was given. Can you believe that! Bobby Fowler is a champion shooter who runs his own shooting school. My post was a lampoon on his advertisement photo. Those uppity skeet shooters just don't get it or maybe my topic was in bad taste. What do you think? That awful picture on page 49. There is Bobby Fowler, jr. again on page 49 of the March issue of Sporting Clays. Bobby Fowler must be a good shooter and probably a nice fellow but that has got to be the worst ad portrait I have seen in a long time. Bobby, do your self and us a favor. Hire a professional photographer that knows how to produce a proper portrait. In the mean time let’s have a little innocent fun with this. Take a pencil and draw a balloon over Bobby’s head and write your own caption or cartoon dialog and then post it in a reply to this topic. I will go first. “It smells like somebody in my squad had a bean burrito for lunch.” “You mean you will pay me $500 for competing with and endorsing Stoeger Condor shotguns? Hmmm. I know the Stoeger gear is way cooler than that Browning stuff. Alright, throw in three Stoeger ball caps and mister you’ve got a deal! “International trap? If foreigners are doing it, it can’t be that hard of a game.” “The only person that really understands dram equivalents is the club house bar tender.” “Just squirt lots of WD-40 on your gun after a shoot and it will last forever.” “So you’re the one that stole my bean burrito from my golf cart. You #######!”

From yesterday's Stars & Stripes news paper. The last operational US Army MASH unit will be left behind in Pakistan to continue to support the earth quake relief effort.

I am Dwayne, of Louisiana French decent. The other group is Cajun. I am a LSU graduate in Industrial Engineering and registered in both Industrial and Mechanical engineering. I have lived in Texas, Kansas, and California but some how always returned to Louisiana. Its the gumbo and crawfish. At this time I am at Mosul, Iraq as a civilian contract engineer to the Department of Defense. I have been in Iraq since April 2004. I have seen it all and heard it all. Operation Iraqi Freedom has been quite an odyssey. I have over 2000 digital pictures. I am Dad and Mr. Mom to three sons. It is starting to get costly to arm three boys. One of the things I miss the most is my work shop. Most of the gun work I do is slow rust blueing and stock work. Half of my tools are home-made. I prefer to make stocks from the square blank and I think that no stock is complete until it is checkered. When I get back from Iraq I will expand my shop and rebuild an old Atlas lathe. My other interests are black & white photography and Texas Hold'em poker. I use poker to finance my gun and photo hobbies. If you want to know what life is like in Iraq, let me know. I try to log on to this site at least three times per week.

For those of us working in Iraq, every day is Groundhog Day.

Last night I had the most perverted dream. It was wonderful.

200 years ago there were no mail-order tool supliers. Craftsmen had to make all their tools them selves. Some of the finest rifles, furniture, and musical instruments were made during that time with home-made tools. If it could be done then, it can be done now. I went though several tool catalogs and picked out the tools I thought I could make. Start with the small simple ones and advance to the others later. As you build a collection you can then make unique tools modified for specific tasks. It is not that hard to do. The best part of tool making is there is a lesson learned in making each one of them and when finished you will know exactly how to use the tool. I have made checkering tools. They were more trouble than they were worth. Get a Dem Bart checkering set and be happy. I turned the handle-making part into an experiment in stock wood staining and finishing techniques. Each of my tools is fitted with a different walnut handel with every kind of stain and finish I could get my hands on.

I made all my small scrapers and gouges from coil springs. Coil automotive valve and hood springs can be un-wound and shaped by heating with a small propane torch. After final shaping and honing, heat the cutting end red-hot and quench in water. Fit a small length of broom stick with epoxy for a handle. You can make a dozen different shapes and sizes for almost nothing.

Listed below is the response of my inquiry of a Winchester shotgun from Tex-Pro. TEX-PRO ITEM #USG513022361 Man. Number 513022361 USRA SELECT TRADITIONAL ELEGANCE 12/28 3"MAG U.S. REPEATING ARMS SELECT TRADITIONAL ELEGANCE FIELD 12 GA OVER & UNDER SHOTGUN 28" BBL 3" MAG CHAMBER WALNUT STOCK FULL MODIFIED IMPROVED CYLINDER CHOKES < RE:Please email me a quotaion of price and delivery. Is Winchester/USRA going out of buisness? Will this shotgun be availible six months from now? I have the Winchester Select Traditional Elegance 12ga/28" in stock price at $1499. The 12ga/26" model is on sale for $1299. Shipping would be $15. The only models that are going to be discontinued are the model 70 rifles, the model 94 rifles, and the model 1300 shotguns. All other models, such as all of the Selct O/U shotguns, the new Super X3 semi-auto shotguns, and the new Super X rifles, will still be manufactured and available. Please let me know if you need more info. Lane lane@tex-pro.com If you would like to order this item by phone, please call TEX-PRO toll free at 1-800-285-8939. Reply or call TEX-PRO toll free at 1-866-776-7849 for additional information on this or any other item. You can place your order by phone, email, or click on the following link for more detailed information on ordering firearms from TEX-PRO: HTTP://WWW.TEX-PRO.COM/EMAIL_LINK.HTM THANK YOU. GUNSALES@TEX-PRO.COM FIREARMS SALES DEPT VISIT TEX-PRO ON THE WEB AT WWW.TEX-PRO.COM TEX-PRO SHOOTING SPORTS SALES & SUPPLY CO. TOLL FREE ORDER LINE: 1-800-285-8939 TOLL FREE INFO LINE: 1-866-776-7849 SALES/INFO FAX: (432)520-3717 EMAIL: GUNSALES@TEX-PRO.COM INFO@TEX-PRO.COM WEB ADDRESS - WWW.TEX-PRO.COM FFL 5-75-***-**-**-01695 TEXAS SALES TAX PERMIT 3-20116-3907-0

Thanks to all for the nice birthday greatings. I have been at home on R&R since 12/25 and have now returned to Iraq. It was hard to come back. I had such a good time fishing and shooting with my three sons. They each got a new 12 ga over/under shotgun. We shot 1500 shells and killed a lot of clay targets. I think I will order a new shotgun for myself this summer. I hope the Winchester Select double barrel gun will still be availible then.

Are clay targets really toxic to hogs? Do any of you have sick little piggys to nurse back to health because of your shotgun sport? Is clay-target-toxic-syndrome fatal, curable, or are pigs forced to live out a miserable life with chronic symptoms? Is a hog with clay-target-toxic-syndrome suitable for barbequing? Clay targets must be made of more than just vitrified clay. Maybe there is some kind of pitch that binds the clay. Is that what makes hogs sick? Have you ever seen a hog munching on a carton of White Flyers? I imagine the after effects must be awful. Are clay targets toxic to hedge hogs, wart hogs and ground hogs? They can't be too damaging to bush hogs. Has Green Peace heard about this problem? Hmmmmmmmmmmm. I've got to know. I can't sleep at night. Reverend Recoil, age: 6 1/2 dog years.

NitroExpress.com Discuss with fellow hunters & shooters big game hunting around the world. African safaris, hunting in Australia, North America and Europe. Plus other places. Shooting double rifles, nitro express calibres, reloading for big bores, bow hunting, deer & duck hunting, if its hunting and shooting related jump in and join discussions .... Read articles on African safaris, hunting big game, deer and more around the world. Also member's and other photographs. Commentaries on various calibres, nitro express cartridges and firearms. Want to share your own stories. Yes we want to publish them. New stories continually being added. Exciting photo discussion forum soon to be introduced. The first hunting and shooting photo discussion forum on the web! Members will be able to post their own hunting photos onto the web - free of charge. Stay tuned for this upcoming feature and especially the competitions and prize giveaways as part of its release.

They are 14, 16, and 19. They reload all the shells, and are good shots too.

I will be flying home to Baton Rouge on Christmas Day for a three-week vacation. I have been counting the days. I can't wait to get out of here. I have been working fourteen hours a day, seven days a week. I relocated from Baghdad to Mosul three weeks ago with a promotion and more projects than I can think about. Our living quarters is next to the sewage treatment plant. Since the weather has cooled, the smell is not quite so funky. I have been told that it snows in Mosul. Moving to Mosul adds one more connection to my travel. I will fly by Russian Charter (KGB Express) to Baghdad. Spend the night in a modified cargo container and then fly to Dubai, U.A.E. Leave Dubai at 2AM for a six hour flight to Amsterdam. Drink all the beer in the airport but leave the smoked eels alone. Fly twelve hours to Atlanta then three more hours to Baton Rouge and set my watch nine hours back. Three weeks later the process repeats in reverse. The jet-lag is always worse going back to Iraq. It usually takes me four days to completely get over it. No matter what, I will be in the Christmas spirit when I get to Baton Rouge. I ordered three Spanish-made Lanber double-barrel shotguns for my three sons. Check them out at: http://lanberusa.tripod.com/ We plan on killing clay targets and eating many bowls gumbo when I get home. There will be two women competing for my time and attention, but they will have to wait until we break in those new shotguns. Certain priorities have to come first. I will work in Iraq though June, 2006 and then come back for good. The war will be over for me. I will have done my bit. I will order myself a Winchester Select™ Traditional Elegance shotgun, finish remodeling my home, and try to find some kind of engineering job in Baton Rouge. I have about six unfinished gun projects waiting for me. Check out the Winchester shotguns and let me know what you think of them. They are similar to the Browning and are Belgian made. http://www.winchesterguns.com/prodinfo/cat...id=022&cat=007C That’s all for now. Let me know if any of you want to know what is really going on in Iraq.

The 22 Hornet sporters you saw were probably made from the 310 Martini Cadet rifle. These were training rifles. Many were sent to Australia. The 310 cartridge is similar to the 32 Long. As far as I know, no 310 ammo is availible. Frank DeHass describes the convertion to 22LR, 32-20, 357 Mag, and 22 Hornet in the NRA's Gunsmithing Guide book. A possible source for small action Martinis is Thad Scott http://www.thadscott.com/ Thad has many BSA Martini 22LR match rifles for sale. Two of the problems of sporterizing Martinis is scope mounting and stocking with a pistol grip shaped stock.

Sep. 28, 2005 Man bites hurricane By Michael Graham. They were poor. They lived in homes that, to some Americans, would appear no more than shacks. They've suffered discrimination at the hands of their fellow Americans. And when the hurricane came, it seemed to veer out of its way, just to hit them. So why didn't hundreds of Cajuns from western Louisiana appear on my TV screen this week, complaining that George W. Bush doesn't like them, demanding $200 billion of my tax dollars or blaming the bad weather on Halliburton? Hurricane Rita may have hit western Louisiana harder than Katrina hit New Orleans, but Rita went across folks made of sterner stuff then you'll find in the Ninth Ward. Here's how one Washington Post story described the scene just hours after Rita made landfall near Intracoastal City, a "city" that in many senses barely exists: "The only people who can get here are the sturdiest of sorts, a small armada of Cajuns with pretty French names and sunburned skin and don't-mess-with-me bravado. The bayous were full of them Saturday, gliding high and quick in airboats, and so was the Vermilion River, where they were spinning steering wheels on fast Boston Whalers and kicking up wakes in flat-bottomed, aluminum boats. They did not wait for the president or FEMA or anyone else to tell them that there were people out there - out there and desperate, on rooftops... 'I got out of the sheriff's office in about 20 seconds,' said Steve Artee, as his son, Chris, made a hard, boat-tilting turn on the swollen Vermilion. 'They just took my cell phone number, and I was gone. That's because Kathleen Blanco wasn't involved." Now, anyone who hates Blanco and bureaucrats can't be all bad. But I don't agree with Mr. Artee that the people of Vermilion Parish behaved more responsibly or showed more strength of character because Gov. Blanco didn't have their parish on her speed dial. I believe the people of western Louisiana behaved better because they are, in fact, better people. The failure revealed by Hurricane Katrina was not a failure of government, at least, not any more than government always fails. The failure in New Orleans was a failure of character. Corrupt people electing corrupt politicians who gave millions in tax dollars to corrupt cronies to either mis-construct vital levees or to spend the money on entirely useless pork projects. Then, when disaster struck, these same people-living a Faustian deal of votes for tax-funded handouts- were utterly lost when those corrupt government officials headed for high ground without them. As John Fund of the Wall Street Journal wrote: "In just the past generation, the Pelican State has had a governor, an attorney general, three successive insurance commissioners, a congressman, a federal judge, a state Senate president and a swarm of local officials convicted. Last year, three top officials at Louisiana's Office of Emergency Preparedness were indicted.. Just this summer, associates of former [New Orleans] mayor Marc Morial were indicted for alleged kickbacks involving public contracts. Last month the FBI raided the home and car of Rep. William Jefferson as part of a probe into allegations he had misused his office." Not to mention the widespread looting by the citizens of New Orleans themselves, which included televised looting by police officers, too. The chief administrative officer for Kenner, LA, was just busted for pilfering food, drinks, chainsaws and roof tarps from New Orleans and stashing them in his suburban home. Hey-stay classy, New Orleans! Then came Hurricane Rita, Katrina's ugly sister, to wreak similar havoc just a few hundred miles to the west. The communities affected were, on the surface, similar as well: Abbeville or Cameron, LA were "low income" communities. The education levels were similar to the Ninth Ward, too. And you won't find many branches of the Aryan Nations meeting among the dark-skinned natives of Cajun country, whose heritage is a genetic gumbo of Europe, Africa, the Caribbean and American Indians. But while the people of New Orleans were panicking and complaining (not to mention stealing, shooting and stabbing) days after the storm, the Cajuns of western Louisiana were out in their boats, looking for lost neighbors and rescuing strangers off rooftops. It wasn't just because Gov. Blanco wasn't involved-it was because almost NO government is involved in these folks' daily lives. The people of rural Louisiana grow up with the assumption that their survival in this world of woe is their responsibility. Unlike far too many people in New Orleans, "low income" isn't an excuse to the working families in rural Louisiana. It's just a condition to be dealt with. They live their lives as though they own them, unlike those government-dependent "victims" who live as though life is something the state provides for them and is responsible to maintain. Randy Gary, a fisherman from Cameron, LA, was asked about his future after his boats were destroyed and flooding poisoned the oyster beds he fished. He didn't blame FEMA or accuse President Bush of stealing his lunch money. He wasn't spotted kicking in the door of the local Wal-Mart to snag a plasma-screen TV "for survival purposes." He has yet to join the Cajun Action Committee to investigate why so many of Rita's victims spoke French. Instead, as the AP reports, he smiled. "What else we gonna do?" he said, pledging to rebuild his shattered home and work. "It's my life. It's what I do." Hurricane Rita, you've met your match.

The ammo could have fallen from some soldier's web gear as he was answering the call of nature. Perhaps he was too lazy to take the time to turn in the unused ammo to the proper storage area. It could be some kind of conspiracy. I guese we will never know. Any experienced plumber will tell you that if it can go down the hole, eventually sombody will put down the hole. And some plumber will be paid $40/hour to get it out.

If you want to know the whole detailed story of the Sunnis - Shiite conflict check out the "Islamic Studies in Christian Perspective" web site at http://www.rim.org/muslim/islam.htm The essay 'Islam United? A Comparison of Shi`ite and Sunni Islam' is at http://www.rim.org/muslim/shiite.htm For thirty-five years the Sunnis minority have had there way in Iraq at the expense of the Shiites. The Sunnis are opposed to democratic rule because they will lose power and they fear revenge from the former mistreated and oppressed Shiites. All of Iraq's oil reserves are in the Kurdish and Shiite regions. Out of hate and childish spite they would prefer civil war than to be dominated by the Shiites. The Shiites want democaratic rule, the complete nation of Iraq, and Western support. The Shiites have the means to wipe out every Sunnis but have been very reserved. They do not want the breakup of Iraq and most of them do not want a religous dictatorship. Time is running out on the Sunnis. There will be elections and Saddam's trial this month. Before it is all over there will be payback.

I got a call to the camp waste water treatment plant the other day. The sewage smell was stinking up the whole camp. All of the aerator pumps had quit working. The plant operator said that the aerators started making loud whining and grinding sounds. Then there were loud popping noises with sparks flying out of them before they stopped. We pulled one of the nastier aerators out of the sewage pond and dumped it out. A pile of shredded pieces of brass fell out of the intake port. The shredded brass was 5.56mm rifle cartridges. For some unknown reason somebody dropped about one hundred rounds of 5.56mm ammunition in one of the Port-O-Lets. Some of the cartridges got past the strainer and into the aerator pump. The cartridges exploded inside the aerator when they were crushed by the impeller. The aerators are working again and signs warning against ammunition disposal have been posted on each Port-O-Let in camp. I was not too surprised by this. I just wonder what I will have to deal with next at this place. Reverend Recoil Q-West, Iraq

Who's Robert Johnson? !!! The greatest blues man that ever lived and the greatest blues man that ever got shot to death in a Chicago ally by a jealous lover. That's who.