B.L.U.F.: .357 is a good critter round, w/ NSFW pictures

One of the reasons we had a racoon problem earlier this year was because one of our chickens was badly injured in some sort of attack. As my lady described it, she was “gloved”.

At first we thought the rooster had done it. Then we thought that maybe a hawk had down it as there are a number of hawks around here. Some animal had ripped the top of the chickens head off. It blinded her completely for a couple of weeks but she seems to have one poorly working eye at this point.

She is currently kept in a pen near the other chickens and the rooster but away separate from them. At the time of the racoon incursion she was being kept safe in a big plastic tub on the porch.

The racoons were attracted to her scent and sounds and found chicken food to eat instead.

This lead to the deployment of a Winchester ’94 in 30-30 on racoon one. Overkill.
Savage Mark II in .22LR which was not enough against racoon two.
Winchester ’94 in 30-30 on racoon three, still overkill but more ethical than the .22.
And the same Winchester ’94 in 30-30 on racoon four.

This was driving the need for something between .22 and 30-30. I could have used the PC-9 but it really didn’t feel like the right choice.

In the end I found my Rossi R92 in 38 Special, .357 Magnum.

I’ve done a little bit of smithing on it. It needs more. It shoots exactly where I want it and is reliable after the first round chambers.

I had finished emptying almost all of my .357 magnum as I wanted to load them with 2400 instead of Titegroup. So it was sitting empty waiting for me to get more rounds loaded.

Last night my daughter heard her rooster give the alarm. She grabbed an ax and headed for the hen house. I figured that I should be the good father and head out to support her.

I quickly ejected my last 7 rounds of .357 form the Ruger GP100 grabbed the R92 and my light, started loading and heading out the door.

When I get out there daughter is pointing out the footprints. I tell her to search for more footprints leading away as it must have hauled ass when it heard my daughter head out.

We don’t see anything so daughter goes to check her chickens. The head count isn’t right so she goes to the back of the hen house and opens the door and a possum comes scurrying out between her legs heading across the snow.

I track the possum as it moves away. Bring the rifle to my shoulder, thumbing the hammer back as I do. Trigger finger is still on the receiver, outside of the trigger guard.

Rifle is lined up, good shoot. Bad back drop. Move to get a better backdrop as the possum moves to give me a better backdrop.

Line up, verify backdrop, press the trigger and there is a sharp bang. Nowhere near as loud as the 30-30.

The possum isn’t even twitching. I move up and verify. It is dead, really. No doubt about.

Since this is around 2300 wife is in bed asleep already. She woke up and immediately texts us for a report. We head in and give her the report.

After reporting in daughter goes out to get pictures so that she can brag to her friends that we have another dead animal. The skeleton will be processed but we aren’t interested in eating this animal.

The .357 magnum was not loaded to full power. It was still bottom end of my .357 loads. But the bullet I used did the trick.

The results of hitting a possum with this round are after the cut. They are graphic:
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Anger as Police Scotland rebrands paedophiles as 'Minor-Attracted People' https://t.co/uqUz0MK9gd

— Scottish Express (@ScotExpress) December 30, 2022

They were never going to identify pedophiles as a protected minority class…

then decriminalize pedophilia on the grounds that it is discriminatory just like bans on sodomy were discriminatory against gays…

then teach pedophilia in sex ed in schools.

No, that’s just the crazy shit Right Wing bigots and Nazis said on QANON forums online.

Miguel sent me a Christmas present greater than frankincense or myrrh.

He sent me 144 family size Luzianne tea bags.

This is the best tea for southern sweet tea.

It’s tea from New Orleans, Louisiana, so you know it’s good southern tea.

But just as important as the tea us how you make sweet tea.

There is a science to making it perfect.

Table sugar is sucrose, whic is a disaccharide.  That means it’s s a sugar composed of two smaller sugar monomers, glucose and fructose.

Glucose and fructose are sweeter on the tongue than sucrose.  They are also liquid at cooler temperatures and have more solubility in water.

The secret of great southern tea is to bring your water to a boil and add your sugar.  Let the sugar water boil for about 30 seconds.

That causes a chemical reaction that breaks the sucrose into its glucose and fructose constituents.

You will know when it happens because your sugar water will instantly turn clear (the table sugar in water will be cloudy).

Some of you might recognize this as the process for making simple syrup.  That’s exactly what you are doing, making tea in dilute simple syrup.

My ratio is about 1-1/3 to 1-1/2 cups of sugar per gallon, but you can adjust to your own taste.

I boil all the water and steep the tea in it, I don’t do it where you boil half and steep I’m half then cut it with cold water.

I like my tea strong, so I boil all the water, add the sugar, and steep with four family size tea bags, and let it cool to room temperature.  It takes a few hours but it comes our perfect.

Pro tip: you can also do this when making lemonade. It makes be best lemonade.

BLUF

The ATF Frame and Receiver redefinition fails at multiple legal issues. The biggest is that they are playing word games with the GCA of 1968 and the second is that even if what they are doing is using rule making in spite of what congress has mandated.

We all know that the ATF cheats. That is no big surprise. The good news is that people are watching and the courts are ruling on things that call into question how the ATF is making rules and if the rules are designed.

In this case, the ATF is attempting to regulate gun parts and precursors to guns. They have very limited room to do that.

The term ‘firearm’ means (A) any weapon (including a starter gun) which will or is designed to or may readily be converted to expel a projectile by the action of an explosive;

This is the first definition of firearm. This is where we see the term “may readily be converted”. This is designed to cover the situation where you have a solid metal rod instead of a barrel, but you remove the take down pin and put a real barrel in its place. You have readily converted the object into a firearm.

The second definition:

(B) the frame or receiver of any such weapon

This means that the frame or receiver of a weapon (including a starter gun) which will or is designed to or may readily be converted to expel a projectile by the action of an explosive.

There is NOTHING in the definitions that says anything about something that can be readily converted into a frame or receiver. It has to be readily converted into a weapon.

This interesting turn of phrase means that no matter how much the ATF may fume and posture they can’t redefine a chunk-o-aluminum to be readily converted into a frame or receiver.

IANAL so I might have this wrong, but I don’t think so.

(3) The term ‘firearm’ means (A) any weapon (including a starter gun) which will or is designed to or may readily be converted to expel a projectile by action of an explosive; (B) the frame or receiver of any such weapon; (C) any firearm muffler or firearm silencer; or (D) any destructive device. Such term does not include an antique firearm.
— Gun Control Act of 1968

There is great BBQ in Middle Tennessee if you know where to look to and avoid going to “BBQ joints” that are part of a shopping cluster. But it is expensive and if you are a bit late, you are SOL and can’t get any.

I ran my new smoker today and damn it! It was great to be back.

And the first batch of ribs came out good!

I had to adapt to smoke in colder weather. Ribs actually cook faster down in Miami since you are between 85 to 90 in heavy humidity. We had a great day in the mid 60s, but that meant extra time in the smoker, a bit over five hours.

I have six more racks to do tomorrow for all the family. And I am going to be prick that takes ribs to work just to see the faces of envy at the break room during lunch break.

PS: Dear Johnson and Johnson Procter and Gamble,  stop making Fabreeze in idiotic smells like Summer Breeze in the Nigerian Alps or Peaches from a Pomerania Meadow. We want aromas like Hickory Smoked Ribs or Mesquite Brisket in Butcher Paper. You will sell a shitload, trust me.

The videos.gunfreezone.net and discourse.gunfreezone.net while be unavailable for a short (couple of days) period of time. The server they are currently running on is being decommissioned and I have to move them to a different server.

No gun shaped gifts were found under the tree. There is one gun-related item that I will address at a later time.

First, I was in need of a decent headlamp, so I gifted myself this:

It comes with 40, 150, 490 and 1,000 lumens which just about should cover needs from looking inside a cabinet for a fix to tag something at 100 yards. For having a solid aluminum, it does not feel unfailingly heavy.  That it is rechargeable or could use a couple of good old C123 batteries was a big selling point for me.  You can detach it and use it as a hand light and it even has a magnet to use as base on metal surfaces.

Next and courtesy of the In Laws: The Smoker!

It is a new version of the old one I had and collapsed of use and Miami weather. About 60% more expensive than the old one, but they improved on many little things to give it a stronger structural strenght. The chip pan is bigger and I believe thicker and the overall finish is better, and I can tell because I did not cut myself putting it together. B-i-L has a stash of hickory and already got me some pieces to use for an upcoming set of ribs I am going to prepare for the whole bunch. I have to cure the smoker first, but only takes an hour.

OK, and what part of “smoker” some knucklehead (probably from the Northeast) did not understand? Check this warning in the instructions.

Sometimes I wonder how they manage to breathe without constant instructions.

I will be posting pics of the ribs in a future post.