If you are still young and interested in long term investment, buy stock that has to do with medical care, heart disease, diabetes cure, amputation-related stuff & prosthetics.

Why? The only people benefiting from the normalization or the ultra-obese are the one that will benefit greatly by “curing” it.

Also, any company that makes pork rinds should be a sound investment.

I believe that most of the firearms I own are “used”. The R92 had no problems throwing a lead pellet at good speed into a trash panda and dispatching it. One boom, one dead raccoon.

I have a coffee grinder that was made in the early 1900s. It does a better job of grinding coffee than any but the most expensive modern grinders. I have taken it a part to clean and refurbish it. I’ve had to make a custom feed hopper, but the grinder itself, is just fine.

If you want to do machining, you need a lathe and will want a mill.

“Mini” lathes and “mini” mills run about $700, each. Looking at the mini lathe offering, they include an 0.8″ through hole, chuck, tools, and just about everything you need to cut metal except metal and oil.

What they lack is rigidity. They don’t have enough mass.

When dad got his mini-mill for Christmas, he had no cutter, not collets, nothing. The next time I saw him, about a two years later, his mill ways were badly worn. He didn’t know he had to oil the ways. Metal on metal is not good for a mill or lathe.

Looking at Craig’s list, I find metal lathes from $500 to $1,500. There is a Southbend 9″ in great condition for $1,500 in Rockland, Co. NY. With what is included, I’d be happy with it as a second lathe. It is in nicer condition than mine.

The other day, Hagar gave me a link to a free lathe. If I had room, I would have gotten it.

But, let’s take a modern “new” lathe as a starting point. You are going to pay $650, and it comes with a “4 tool post”.

These are neat, you can mount 4 tools in them, then rotate them to present the tool you want. The issue is that your tool will not be on center. Being on center is a requirement. You will have to have the right shims to get it right.

If you get an Aloris BXA tool post with 5 toolholders, you are investing $850. If you buy a good Chinese version, $300.

If the used lathe you purchase comes with an Aloris tool post, you have just gotten an $300+ boost, just for the tool post.

What I’m saying, is that the used machine is more likely to have good “extras”. My mill came with a 6″ Kurt vise. That was $725 I didn’t have to spend.

Next, you have robustness. I am scared to open up the Bridgeport or Southbend. There is no need to be fearful. My fear is that I will have to replace something expensive. And yes, that does happen.

A Bridgeport J head rebuild kit. The top half rebuild kit is $270, the spindle bearings are another $400.

Old machines have wear. You have to know how to deal with it. The backlash on my lathe was nearly 0.125 inches. This was a complete rotation of the dial. This made certain types of work more difficult.

I made the replacement cross feed screw and purchased a replacement nut. Now my backlash is around 0.15.

If I had to do it again, I would buy used. I would invest in a better lathe. A gear head that was more rigid, that had a faster spindle, and which did not have a threaded spindle nose.

Buying a used Bridgeport is risky. Unless you know what you are looking at, you will not know how bad the ways are.

Still, I will continue to buy used equipment.

I have one story that confirms this.

The automatic down feed on the Bridgeport was stuck with only one speed. After overcoming my fears, I took the handle off, and went to take the screws out.

I was ready for the screws to fight me, just like every car screw has. I knew it was going to be a pain in the rump. Those screws were tight, but not stuck. Enough torque and the cracked and came out.

I took the control apart, cleaned it. Put it back together the way it looked like it should go together. Put the control back in place. All three down feed speeds are now available.

Not a single issue.

I want to write about some court cases, but bluntly, there is nothing new happening. Everything is sitting at the circuit courts or the Supreme Court, waiting for movement.

We should be hearing on Rahimi in the next 20 days or so.

We are waiting to find out if cert will be granted in any of the 2A cases before the Supreme Court.

We are waiting for opinions on cases that have been heard in a few circuit courts.

Thank you to those of you that purchased coffee ($5) and a month of services ($50), it helps.

We still need more, we haven’t made our minimums for the year. Please help if you can.

It is so nice to have all the right tools to do “the thing”. I was cutting dovetails with a 1/2″ 60° dovetail cutter, it didn’t cut deep enough to complete the dovetail. I ordered a 3/4″ 60° cutter. It cut deep enough, but not high enough. I did some math and was able to make a finishing cut to finish the dovetail.

Yesterday I was using a 25 mm 60° dovetail cutter. Full cut. So much nicer. Deciding I was willing to use a 25 mm cutter instead of demanding a 1″ cutter dropped the price substantially. I can cut full depth and full height in one pass.

I now have exactly ONE metric R8 collet. Oh, well.

Cutting with a 3/4″ solid carbide end mill is interesting. Much more stiffness, much better results.

A few days ago, dad was in a minor car accident. The hospital admitted him for observations and because his lab work was a little off.

Yesterday afternoon he coded. They brought him back. Bro, a doctor, is with him. It doesn’t look good. Bro and I will be making the decision today.

It hurts.

.

When Eddie and Claire Speir founded Inspiration Academy 11 years ago, not arming teachers wasn’t even a consideration.

“It was because of Columbine. We were in a spiritual war — we still are — and some people were crazy. We knew it was our duty to protect our students. Columbine changed a lot of things for educators,” Speir told the Second Amendment Foundation Tuesday.

Private school founder destroys every argument against arming teachers (substack.com)

Two things to consider: The first one is that teachers and staff carry and have been carrying for a decade without issues. The second is that they don’t take Federal money.

Both side of the TDS are annoying, but lady, please!

This story is something else…

Maine ‘Gun Safety’ Coalition Oversees Negligent Firearm Discharge at Gun-Giveback

One of Maine’s primary gun control advocate groups, the Maine Gun Safety Coalition, oversaw a gun-giveback program on Saturday at local police departments throughout southern Maine.

Despite the focus on gun safety, contractors working with MGSC and the Old Orchard Beach Police Department failed to practice basic gun safety when they attempted to saw a loaded blackpowder rifle, which led to the negligent discharge of the firearm.

Luckily, instead of injuring any bystanders, the musket round instead damaged two vehicles.

“As one of the firearms was being cut the weapon discharged expelling a round
through the barrel. The round was found to have struck two unoccupied vehicles
within the parking lot,” the Old Orchard Beach Police Department told the Maine Wire.

The destruction of the forfeited guns was carried out by Humanium Metal technicians, who allegedly specialize in the safe disposal of firearms.

Police said that the firearm in question was a muzzle-loader, which was loaded with gunpowder and a bullet at the time of destruction.

The heat or sparks caused by the sawing ignited the gunpowder and caused the gun to fire.

Absolutely fucking brilliant.

They are gun experts that don’t follow the rules of gun safety and caused a negligent discharge.

Dumbasses.