The Hobbit Hole XXXVIII - There and Back Again!

[hiredhand]

I appreciate the advice! I’ll be needing one of those spanners SOON. I need to install a sling attachment plate on one rifle, and a 6 position retractable stock on the other, so I’ll be needing to REMOVE that nut with the notches in it. I’m glad you mentioned about the mag-well vise block! I was wondering if we were just going to have to hold the lower down on a flat surface, or remove the pistol grip and clamp the top and bottom of the lower receiver in a vice (protecting the surfaces of course). I’ll pick up the mag-well vice block WITH the spanner.

You say I can get all these tools at Brownells right? THANKS! :-)

[ExGeeEye]

In happier news: Arthur "Bilbo Baggins" Dent.

Etc. (Same link)

[Lucius Cornelius Sulla]

The above links are the first casting announcements for the Hobbit movies, including Bilbo and the Dwarves. I don’t have time right now, could someone post it as a thread?

[ExGeeEye]

Done.

[SuziQ]

I always liked Tom Bosley, though I never regularly watched any of the series in which he appeared. I’d see an episode of one, from time to time.

[SuziQ]

Sounds like Guccione went through some tough times before he died.

[SuziQ]

Sounds like the beginnings of a great cast!! Hope they start filming SOON!

[Lucius Cornelius Sulla]

The first time I saw Tom Bosley was as the title character in ‘Fiorello’, the 1959 Pulitzer Prize winning musical about the former mayor of New York.

[Lucius Cornelius Sulla]

Thanks for posting.

[Ramius]

OK... so... in honor of the movie finally getting the green light I decided to re-read The Hobbit. For the first time in what's got to be more than thirty years. Just finished it tonight. Dang... I'd forgotten what a great story it is. I'm still not sure how PJ will cut it into two movies... but I'm sure he'll come up with something. Now, instead of worrying what Lembas is... we can discuss what cram is. :-)

[300winmag]

This is a morning-edition quick feature before tonight's Saturday Night Gun Pron

Several months ago, I said some rather harsh things about my Sig P229 when converted to 357Sig caliber. Since then, I've read some intriguing stuff about the caliber, and decided to knock off another box of the 450 rounds I have left of the FMJ training ammo. For some reason, this time the round acted more like a floofy kitteh, and did just about everything but purr. Here's the results of a couple of magazines at 10 yards, complete with me throwing rounds to the left until I remembered trigger-finger placement again.

There was no hugh muzzle blast, no sharp recoil, and the rounds went mostly where I wanted them to go.

When I was down to my last two rounds, I loaded a magazine, and tried a double-tap at ten yards. It's against range rules, but considering how fast some of the other shooters were sending lead downrange, I got away with it. The whole purpose was to put the sights on the target, and rap off two rounds as quickly as possible.

The final thing that convinced me that the Sig357 was on its best behavior was when I recovered all 50 pieces of empty brass. Some of it was three lanes over, but they were all accounted for. That bottleneck case made them easy to spot.

Am I getting set up for some sort of fake-out if I continue to spend quality time with this cartridge? Everything went just about perfectly on this second "date".

[Overtaxed]

we can discuss what cram is.

I'd say a hardtack version of shortbread. Or a shortbread version of hardtack.

[Lucius Cornelius Sulla]

Semi official announcement at TORN:
‘The New Zealand Herald is reporting that Sylvester McCoy flew out to Wellington last Thursday to meet with PJ and Philippa about The Hobbit, and he confirms that he has been cast as Radagast the Brown, but he hasn’t signed any contracts yet.’

Casting Radagast means the the White Council is in, requiring Saruman and probably Galadriel and Elrond.

[300winmag]

Tonight's Saturday Night Gun Pron takes a quick look at my attempt to beautify my plain-looking AR57, my new goes-bump-in-the-dark companion.

New is the American flag mag release, and a Sig LED/laser combo. I may not need it, but it's available with just a slight stretch of my hand.

Oh, and I figured how to get the stock flash hider off the barrel. At first I thought it was machined on, but when a drop of Hoppe's vanished into a seam, I realized it was a separate piece. It's just there were no flats to put a wrench on. I finally took my biggest screwdriver, stuck the tip into the fins, and cranked on all the torque I could with the upper clamped into the vise with my vise block from last week. Just when I thought it impossible, it finally let loose, and I removed it with no further effort. Now I have the exotic-looking PWS flash-hider/muzzle break on it. Anything to give me the edge against those nightly noises.

And for the main event, my first-fire report on my M4E(conomy). First, a quick peek at my attempt at adding some bling to a weapon.

The laser engraving of the flag on the mag button was tilted a bit (the only one of three buttons), but that isn't really noticed when that receiver cover pops open. These are fun weapons to shoot, but this one actually brings a smile to my face.

The other thing that brought a smile to my face was its first-round accuracy at 50 yards using the Eotech sight.

My biggest "problem" was that, at 50 yards, the red dot of the holograph was larger than the black bullseye, so I had to guess a bit if I was exactly on the X-ring. I'm sure a low-powered scope would let me tighten the group considerably. These are the finest first rounds from a "from parts" rifle I've ever done.

Of course a lot of that is due to the love and affection I lavished on the fire control assembly. Starting out with totally stock parts, after the first 75 or so rounds, the trigger pull is a very consistent 6 lbs, 3 ounces. If it "breaks itself in" any more that that, I'm going to start to worry, or open a new business.

I think I learned the final secret. Nanolube had already done its magic in smoothing out and lapping together the critical surfaces. It doesn't seem it when you're just testing the trigger using the hammer block, but real firing turns all those parts into parts that are operating in a high-stress environment. And the 10w oil that Nanolube uses just gets pushed aside. So I finished up the project with a light touch of a Teflon-bearing grease. When I took the rifle apart for cleaning, I noticed traces of the grease still in place on those critical bearing surfaces.

And did that rifle need cleaning! In my haste, I grabbed 100 rounds of the first thing I found, which turned out to be PMC 5.56mm ammo. That has got to be the filthiest ammo next to the cheap Russian stuff. I'll save the rest for barter in case TSHTF, where maybe 1000 rounds of it will get me a case of beer, if I find the right chump.

Finally, I have to admit I discovered one major annoyance from what otherwise would be a dream project. While firing, the stresses must somehow "bounce" the detent pin of the folding stock out of it's hold in the buffer tube. After a few rounds, I found I had my nose pressed against the charging handle, after starting with the stock almost fully extended. And it was getting worse, the more I fired, so I quit at about 75 rounds, having achieved more in this first fire than I had a right to expect.

Unfortunately, the rifle is now less E(conomical) than when I started because I bought a name-brand stock and tube from Brownell's, rather than struggle with debugging the odd problem, which has never happened before, despite the dozens of odd combinations I've put together in the past. I had the rifle in the vise, and shaked, rattled, and rolled the stock, and beat it with a plastic mallet. Absolutely no problems, but fire off a few rounds, and your nose is introduced to the charging handle. This leads me to believe that some sort of shock wave traveling through the rifle when it is fired, jars something just enough to let the stock move forward.

I don't know if it's one for the books, but it's one for my books. So this rifle has earned something better for its rookie performance, and I'm still dollars ahead of something I just "threw together" to take advantage of a couple of sales, and use up more of my extra M16 parts. Some day I'll explain the deeper reasoning behind this, my major project for National Preparedness Month.

[hiredhand]

Love that dust cover. :-)

[HairOfTheDog]

‘The New Zealand Herald is reporting that Sylvester McCoy flew out to Wellington last Thursday to meet with PJ and Philippa about The Hobbit, and he confirms that he has been cast as Radagast the Brown

Well, I suppose the moth was no longer available. ;~)

[Overtaxed]

Cyoot Kitteh of teh Day: Ai Neber Letz Go, Jak! Oops, Ai Letted Go…

[300winmag]

Love that dust cover. :-)

This is the one I have on my other Mfaux. The image on the right is the universally-understood "smiley" with a bullet hole in the forehead.

[hiredhand]

Are dust covers much trouble to remove/reinstall? :-)

[Corin Stormhands]

Sentimental spammage.