Why am I awake?
Seriously, why? I have to get up at 7 AM. Crazy I guess.
One of the things I really like about my family is that we can really talk about politics, and from most sides. Tonight was a prime example; politics was the main discussion at dinner, and then when we did the whole cake / present thing we always do at birthdays
(I didn't blow out all the candles for the first time in like 10 years! What a loser!), after I opened my cards
($$--all going to my training) and present
(a really nice book about the history of US Special Forces I had actually just heard I should read), we talked about politics for a good hour again before the dogs started freaking out because they knew it was bedtime.
It is interesting because while my father and I follow politics pretty much religiously--though I am more of the internet type and he is the TV/newspaper type
(yet we still come out with almost the same views, I guess at least one man can see through all the MSM bullshit)--my mother really only dabbles a bit when it's not related to her work and my sister is pretty liberal: a 22 year old, 1st year graduate student
(microbiology, Ph.D program @ Penn State). My father and I are very hard core conservatives on economic and foreign policy, and I think we agree that the gov't should leave most social issues the fuck alone, but I'm a lot more tolerant when it comes to issues like gay marriage.
I really have no idea where I'm going with this. I just wanted to write something, and while I did start writing a very long Enlisting Part 2 essay, it's not getting finished tonight.
It's been a while since I was able to have a really diverse political discussion, and it was just refreshing. Most of the liberal viewpoints I hear/read are uber-extreme, moonbat loony left arguments: Bush=Hitler! The US slaughtered 15,000 Iraqis! Halliburton sacrifices kittens and baby raccoons on the altar of oil! Sound familiar? I also experience Kim du Toit RCOB moments any time I turn on a news channel, including Fox, because there's no end to the bullshit they spew. I don't know how my dad does it, he limits himself to yelling at the TV instead of throwing shit around. 52 years of self control, I guess, or maybe it's because he's an engineer and used to dealing with fucking idiots all day.
Oh, it really is my birthday now. Go me, the big 19... ha. I can now drink anywhere in Canada, and that's the only perk. I don't even like drinking. Shooting commences in about 9 hours, when we get down to PA. I'd really like to hit up a gun shop before we go for another 500 9mm FMJs, because I'm running low, but that doesn't seem to be in the cards--they don't open before 9. Oh well, I'll just shoot everything I have but 53 rounds
(2x10rd, 2x16rd mags, 1 chambered) of my defense ammo and stock up again when we get back.
Today will determine whether or not we go rifle hunting up north this year, I think. My father has his Remington 788 in 308--as accurate or better than the 700, in my experience; I've seen my father shoot nickels at 100 yards--and while I have both a Marlin 336 in 30-30 and a sporterized
(*shudder* as soon as I can spare the money I'm going to restock it or buy another so I can have the authentic number too) Mosin Nagant M38 Carbine, I can't seem to shoot the Marlin accurately
(barrel might be shot out--it was made in 1948 after all, first year production 336RC--or I just suck with iron sights). I've never even shot the M38, even though I bought it about seven months ago. If the 336 comes through, I'll take it, but I can't even get mil-surp ball ammo for my M38 around here, much less premium hunting ammunition.
Speaking of the 336, I'm not quite sure what to do with it. Someone told me a while back that a good test for testing the erosion of a barrel was seeing how far in a bullet would go before the rifling started resisting it, and that's damn near all the way to the case mouth with this rifle. I don't know how accurate that measurement is--it's not scientific, that's for damn sure--but it seems to bear out my suspicions. When I last shot the 336, I shot several groups off a bench rest at a measly 50 yards and was getting about 6 inch groups... 12 MOA. I'm no expert when it comes to iron sights, but that's horrible accuracy, and not even close to minute of deer offhand. I have no desire to mount a scope to confirm the shitty accuracy
(on a lever gun? Are you crazy?) or rebarrel the rifle, because I don't want to change the rifle that my grandfather used to hunt deer for 45 years. Maybe it will be just an heirloom from now on, an occasional rifle to use to introduce a novice to moderate recoil; I just don't know.
Anyway, I'm done rambling and it's time for a nap. Anyone that reads this, have a great day, the whole two of you.
