Libercontrarian

Crushed between the wheels of capitalism and big government.

An unpleasant surprise while walking my dog - I think it was a human femur!

I was walking my dog on the evening of the 30th in a wild field that is near my house. I never walk in the direction I was heading, because the field is overgrown and a haven for mosquitos, and it gives me the creeps. Nevertheless, I managed to walk that way Wednesday evening.

So I see a rib bone on the ground, and I was thinking, "Some retard was eating ribs out here?" Then some more bones, some spinal bones, and then I find I am in a field of bones about 100 ft in diameter.

That was when I saw it.

It was the bottom of a femur, and the top of a tibia (this is from memory, and I am a salesman, not a criminologist, so don't sue me if I got this wrong). They were sawn in half. Whatever they were had been cut by a butcher's saw (or, God Save me, something else) - no creature would bite a bone in half with a perfectly flat edge.

I had to get out of there, 'cause I got a really weird feeling from the place. There were bones of every shape and kind everywhere you would step. I was creeped out thinking that I was possibly walking on somebody's grave, although I thought it was far likelier that these bones were from a cow or other creature (or a bunch of creatures). Clearly, they had been taken apart by scavengers, and since they were sun-bleached, they had to have been there for a while, although I don't have that much experience looking at such things.

I called the Aurora police this afternoon, and they sent out an officer to walk with me to the site and take a look. He was not a happy camper after I showed him the bones that looked most human. We both surmised that this was likely a warren for foxes (I have seen them and coyotes in these fields) where they were bringing back bones from nearby restaurant dumpsters and from corpses of creatures found in the ditch behind Gander Mountain. He called out the CSI team to take a look, then dropped me back off at the condo.

I am awaiting any further news; I have offered help if they need it.

I was trying to snack as I typed this account - remembering how the tissue looked that was left on the bones kind of sapped my appetite.

posted by: underwhelmed at August 31, 2006 23:53 | link | comments (2) |

Scope That Mauser

Want to have a good time?

Try getting a Mauser mounted up all nice 'n purty with a riflescope.

Why?

It's a collossal pain-in-the-ass. The Mauser is one of those oddball military rifles where the inventors, Peter and Paul Mauser in this case (Messieurs Kalashnikov and Simonov are equally guilty, as is the Springfield Arsenal in the case of the Springfield Model of 1903 Rifle) elected to put the rear sight of the weapon IN FRONT of the chamber. This shortens sight radius (distance between front and rear sight) by about 10 inches, making the weapon somewhat more inclined to be misaimed by a rushed marksman - say, a soldier, for instance. The shorter the sight radius is on any firearm with dual-plane sights (a "front" and a "rear" you have to align), the likelier it is that a small error in sighting, which is less noticeable (duh), will have a big impact downrange where the bullet eventually strikes. The farther the distance, the greater the error!

When the rear sight is in back of the chamber, you have an ideal platform from which to hang a "no-gunsmithing" type of scope mount - it can arch over the chamber without needing to be tied down to the front. Furthermore, you can bring that scope far enough to the rear to provide the appropriate eye relief for a proper image in the glass. Forward-mounted ("scout" or pistol) scopes, however, are more difficult to mount and use effectively. The extended eye relief tends to cause scout/pistol scopes to be less forgiving of any sideways motion of your head when you peer down their barrel, as that motion tends to leave you looking at the inside wall of the tube when you deviate a fraction of an inch left or right of the optical "sweet spot." This is, of course, much less of a challenge on a rifle, where your head is attached to a nice wooden stock, but it does add complexity to an already challenging equation - cheek-weld, angle of head on stock, angle of scope to rifle, angle of rifle to target, etc, etc.

I have been searching for the Holy Grail of scope mounts for one or both of the Mauser rifles I have (yes, I KNOW I haven't put up the blog post on the refinished 6mm Remington conversion yet, I will get to it soon), and in typical Libercontrarian fashion, I have totally painted myself into a corner, specifying several solutions that are all difficult, or too expensive, or highly complex - or all three.

I will highlight them as I approach a solution. This post is but the first in a series that will document my efforts to successfully scope my Mausers, and it ought to be a fun-filled comedy of adventures, that's for sure!

posted by: underwhelmed at August 30, 2006 15:33 | link | comments |

On Dogs, Blogger Bashes, Guns, Politics

Blogger Bash:

You may have noticed a hiatus here. June 12 was my last post. I simply became disinterested, feeling like nothing I was saying here held value.

I was right.

It held no value... to me. I was talking to my great and grand friend-bloggers at this evening's Blogger Bash - Richard Combs, of Combs Spouts Off, wise Publicola of Publicola, the wonderful Jed from FreedomSight, and the incomperable Doc Cutter from Wadcutter. We talked about the synergy of posting, and the "butterfly effect" of associating with one another, reading each others' blogs, and being the (admittedly tiny) vectors of force in the almost perfectly democratic world of blog-oriented politics. I (re)learned that my contribution is wanted, and that we all have a voice if we "shout out."

You know, the first rule of gunfighting is... "Bring a gun." If you don't write, you have come to the fight with two empty hands. Message received, boys. I shall continue posting - although I am done explaining and apologizing.

Dogs:

My Australian Shepherd, Buddie, is the quintessential Aussie - he will block your way with "u-turns" in the hall, he wants to sit on your lap and smell/lick your mouth, and breathe on you (from two inches away). In short, he is "TOO INTRUSIVE, TOO INVASIVE, TOO AGGRESSIVE... TOO AUSSIE!" This usually gets him fairly riled up, producing what Aussie owners like to call the "Aussie Smile," which looks suspiciously like a vicious snarl.

He is a great dog. Absolutely wonderful... a handful, and very, very engaged, but a terrific friend, smart as a whip, and funny as Robin Williams - although somewhat more dangerous.

Guns:

Two new handguns have graced the Libercontrarian homestead, carefully tucked away where Mrs. Libercontrarian is not likely to find them - a Walther P1 German Army milsurp that was refininshed to like new condition, and a new Bersa .380 in Nickle for CCW duties. I am handloading for the Bersa with a great deal of success, and will post some range reports on these two fabulous new handguns. With any luck at all, Mrs. Libercontrarian will not read this post and thus will not have the opportunity to hammer me into the ground like a spike.

The Russian-Capture K98k Mauser that I was having completely rebuilt is done. I will post about this in a later installment - suffice it to say that I have perhaps the finest example of a Mauser rifle in 6mm Remington AND in original military finish that I have ever seen or heard of.

Politics:

I had given up, mostly due to feelings of futility. While I still feel like I am unable to change things, I will at least endeavor to overcome my laziness and post, even if it is simply to point you, dear reader, to some pearl of wisdom I have come upon.

posted by: underwhelmed at August 25, 2006 23:04 | link | comments |