Author: Kim du Toit

Quote Of The Day

QOTD, The Gun Thing

From the Knuckledragger, commenting on this article:

“I don’t buy into that horseshit about how we should spend the equivalent of our rifle’s value on an optic. I’m sorry, but save your money and invest it in a decent trigger instead. A quality trigger will improve your shooting much more than a fancy big name optic.”

I sorta-agree, with a couple of qualifications.

Don’t buy a $1,900 rifle and put a $49.99 scope on it.

In the same vein, don’t buy an old $200 mil-surp rifle and add $$$$$ Night Force glass.

What you’re getting with a very good scope is not just better optics, but reliability.  Those $49.99 red-dot sights from CheaperThanDirt are not going to work as well, or last as long as a Trijicon.  However (as with all things), once you get past a certain quality standard, incremental quality comes at enormous cost.

And if you’re buying an expensive rifle, you’d better  get a superior trigger for your money.  If you start off with a cheap rifle and add a Timney trigger, pretty soon you’ll discover that your barrel is sub-optimal — and by the time you’ve added that, plus a free-floating stock arrangement, you’ll end up with Washington’s axe.  (Don’t ask me how I know this.)

This, by the way, is why I love CZ rifles so much:  excellent reliability, a decent barrel and (most often) a single-set trigger, all for less than a grand.  Ditto the even-cheaper Savage rifles, ever since they started putting the fine Accu-Trigger into their rifles.

All that said, my policy is always to match three things when putting together a shooting platform:  rifle, scope, and intended use/frequency.  If all you’re going to do is plink away at a range every other month, you’re not going to need a $5,000 rifle/scope combination.  If you’re going to engage in long-distance competition shooting, spend as much or more than you can afford on both the rifle and scope.  My Mauser M12 / Minox scope combination was bought with a Scottish deer stalk in mind (bad visibility, horrible terrain, 200+ yard shots), hence the scope’s illuminated reticle and ruggedness of the Mauser action.  I could have spent a lot more on a hunting setup, but given my skill level (adequate), budget (don’t ask), and likely frequency of Scottish deerstalking (annual, at best), I “settled” for the M12 / Minox.

(More on the Mauser in a later post, by the way.)

Now, if you want to shoot rimfire ammo very  accurately all the time (and you should), the CZ 452 topped with Leupold glass will do you very well — I would humbly suggest that getting an Anschutz with Swarovski glass may be overkill, unless  you want to move on to competition shooting later.   My own rimfire setup, for example, is a Marlin 880SQ (~$280) topped with a Nikon scope (~$300).

Hell, I’ve spent more time working out what ammo works best in the 880 (CCI Mini-Max 40gr FMJ), and those who have seen me shoot with this setup will attest that while I’m no world-beater, I certainly don’t disgrace myself.  Given how often I go plinking (not as often as I’d like aaarrrrgh), it’s all I need.  YMMV.

Sorry, this post has turned into something much longer than a Quote Of The Day, but it’s on a topic about which I have a little experience.  Your comments, as always, are welcome.

More Nancy Bullshit

Lies and Untruths, Politics

As Glenn Reynolds might say, “If you’re going to chronicle Nancy Pelosi’s bullshit, you’re gonna need a bigger blog.”

But this one’s a little more dangerous than her normal:

The United States would not agree to any trade deal with Britain if future Brexit arrangements undermine peace in Ireland, U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Wednesday during a visit to Dublin.

Actually, Our Nancy doesn’t have the authority to make such a statement.  Trade deals fall squarely under the purview of the POTUS, and are subject only to ratification by the (Republican-controlled) Senate.  The House of Representatives, over which Oberfuehrer Pelosi holds only a little influence, doesn’t have much to do with the process.

So she’s telling a Great Big Fat Lie [quelle surprise] in order to undermine Brexit, which (as any fule kno) the U.S. Socialist Party hates as much as the Euroscum do, because both hate the idea that someone somewhere might actually have independence from Big Government.

So, to my Brit Readers:  ignore the Trot bitch.  We usually do.

Quote Of The Day

QOTD

From an Uber passenger last week, a real estate attorney of 35 years’ standing, when I asked his opinion of the massive economic growth in north Texas:

“What can I tell you?  We’re in Year 9 of a 5-Year Growth Cycle.”

What’s To Be Done?

Africa

The Bayou Renaissance Man is asked what he would suggest we do to “fix” the problem that is Africa, and responds in typically eloquent fashion (unlike my own earlier essay, from which he quotes).

His response is similar to mine — nothing can  be done — but as Peter is a far more decent human being than I, he resists using my solution (Cliff Notes:  high walls around the entire continent, guns, bombs and the last one alive to shoot himself).

All we can  do is try to contain the situation and prevent all that African bullshit from being exported from the blasted continent, because to do otherwise is to commit slow national suicide (as Europe is discovering, and as Minnesota soon will too).

All that said, Peter gives a cogent reason why the African institutions of tribalism and superstition still exists.  Please read his whole post, because it’s absolutely, 100% true.  (And his observations about current Chinese colonialism involvement in Africa are likewise correct.)

Has anyone ever wondered why, when the Eeeevil White Colonialists arrived in sub-Saharan Africa, they found a continent without any written histories, and a civilization that had yet to invent the wheel?

Happy Easter

Uncategorized

I know, you’re asking yourself:  “Why is this atheist wishing me well over a religious holiday?”  Silly rabbits;  we’re looking at how other people  started the Easter celebrations — which, as our trip takes us to Newcaste-On-Tyne, Britishland, means…

Train Smash Women!!! (and play this as background music for this post)

And who better to kick off the parade of unfortunate choices, regrettable mistakes and foolish behavior which characterize the species, than this creature:

Is she not magnificent?  But let me not pause the entertainment:

And last, but by no means least:

That said, their dates (when they had them) were not exactly prime beef either:

I once referred to Liverpool as Train Smash Central.  If so, they have a serious challenger for the title in Newcastle.

Another Unexpected Find

Culture

Over time, we’ve come to realize that A Pathway In Monet’s Garden  is too big for the dining room.  (It was originally intended for the living room, but plans changed and a better thing was found.)

So yesterday morning we decided to mothball the Monet, and put something else up in its place.  So off we went to iCanvas, my favorite place to buy art online.  Rather than getting just another Monet (there are four in the house currently), we decided to look instead at Impressionist paintings set in portrait format rather than landscape, with no regard to the artist.  Hours passed by, paintings considered and then discarded (wrong color, wrong mood, wrong style, etc.) until we stumbled onto this:

5th Avenue New York, 1891, by Childe Hassam

Wait a moment.  Who is this “Childe Hassam?”  I’d never heard of him/her (him, actually), so I went to his page at iCanvas and looked at his works, which numbered over a hundred.  I like almost all of them — which meant I had to look to see whose work I was enjoying so much… hello, Wikipedia.

Wait… an American Impressionist?  And I had never heard of him before?  And (wait for it) his paintings were all done during the late 19th- and early 20th century, which as any fule kno is my favorite period of history;  and in all, he produced over three thousand  works… BINGO!

What I like about Hassam is not just his technique, which is excellent, but also his choices of subject matter.  Unlike many Impressionist painters (hello Monet and Cezanne), Hassam painted a dizzying variety of subjects:  landscapes, cityscapes, models, you name it;  he used both watercolors and oils (!) and over all that, he also covered a multitude of colors and moods.  Here’s A Room Of Flowers :

…Gloucester Harbor :

…Cloud Front, Maine :

…and in one of many abrupt changes of both topic, color and mood, Taxi Rank on Rue Bonaparte  (which I love but The New Wife doesn’t, alas):  

…and continues the theme with Rainy Day, Boston :

Yes indeed:  our American painter didn’t restrict himself to the U.S.A. at all (although he painted the New England and Pacific Northwest seascapes, to name but two).  Rather, his work also covers France, Italy, and all points in between.  Wherever he found himself, he painted it.  To our great advantage.

Because if you like Impressionism but can only see so many paintings of haystacks (ahem), I bet you’ll find a Hassam painting that will be right up your street.  Maybe like this one, The Water Garden : 

…or even Church At Old Lyme, Massachusetts (of which, unusually, he painted several seasonal variations): 

…never mind his patriotic “Flag” series, like for example Fourth of July, 1916 : 

…or the sublime Watching The Boys March By, 1918 :
…which is also sometimes called The Flag Outside Her Window.

I like this artist.  I like him a lot.

Self Portrait, 1914

Oh, and for people (like me) who loathe Modernism, allow me to quote his attitude thereon:

He denounced modern trends in art to the end of his life, and he termed “art boobys” all the painters, critics, collectors, and dealers who got on the bandwagon and promoted Cubism, Surrealism and other avant-garde movements.

“Art Booby”… I am so  going to steal that for myself.