Author: Kim du Toit

Serious Talk

The Gun Thing

“Only accurate rifles are interesting.”  — attributed to Townsend Whelen.

We need to have a serious discussion, O My Readers, because I’m wrestling with a gun problem.

You will all recall that the original rifle intended for the Boomershoot giveaway was this Savage Apex Predator .308 Win / Vortex 4-12x scope package:

 

…which necessitated sending it back to Savage under warranty to address the “hard strike” (primer-puncturing) and chamber-binding problems.  So late last week I got it back, and a couple days ago I took it out to the range to check out its performance — and again, not good.  The two problems had been fixed, but now a new one reared its head:  a bolt action so stiff that after almost every shot I was forced to lay the gun on its side and practically hammer the bolt open with the heel of my hand, then slam it closed with a karate chop.

I didn’t check the serial number, but it looks like Savage may have sent me a different rifle — this one with its own issues.  But that’s not the worst of it.

I could not get a consistent grouping out of the thing at 100 yards:  I’d get two shots inside an inch, and the third two inches off — and worse still, the flyer would come with either the first, second or third rounds.

I’m not a great rifle shot, but I’m not that bad, as anyone who has shot with me can attest.  There was a young guy in the next lane over who’d been dumping rounds into pretty much the same hole all morning, so I asked him to take a few shots to see whether this was the gun, or me.  He couldn’t get a decent grouping either.

Cliff Notes:  I hate this fucking gun.

Now here’s where we come to the point of discussion.

My original plan was to get the “repaired” gun, make sure it was fit for purpose and then either sell it at a loss or else make it “second prize” in the drawing — eating most or all of the cost of the gun because this whole story has been an exercise in total frustration, and I just want to get it out of my safe.

Now I can’t do either, because the gun is a total POS — I certainly can’t sell it in good conscience, and frankly, knowing what I do about it, I don’t even want to give it away to someone who spent good money on a ticket.  And I’m not really interested in spending more money with a gunsmith to fix the bolt action, or to go through the cost and rigmarole of sending it back again to Savage, pox be upon them.  (I’d just take an angle grinder to the thing, such is my frustrated rage, but I don’t have an angle grinder.)

So, Readers:  what do YOU think I should do with it?

By the way:  the Savage’s replacement — CZ 550 Varmint .308 Win — (the original of which was stolen, as you may recall) has been ordered, and as soon as it comes in, I’ll be buying it and a decent scope with the insurance money, and holding the draw.

For Sale 2

The Gun Thing

Back in Ye Olde Dayes, I had a Browning A5 Sweet Sixteen, and as I was loath to add to the already-extensive caliber proliferation in Ye Olde Ammoe Locquer, I found a deal on a Spanish cheapie side-by-side at a gun show (back when one could still find such deals), and laid in a small stock of 16ga ammo.

I want to get back into sporting clays here locally, and birdshooting with Mr. FM, but now I’d rather shoot 20ga than 16ga.  So:

For Sale — Churchill (Kassnar) 16ga SxS, double triggers, 2¾” chamber, 27″ barrels — $150:

As you can see, it’s in NRA Condition “Wretched”:  worn bluing, dings in the stock, etc.

 

To make up for its pitiful condition, I’ll throw in some cleaning brushes and swabs:

…and also 125 rounds of various ammo types because I won’t need them anymore:

(Frankly, I think the ammo is worth more than the gun, so look on it as ammo + free gun, or gun + free ammo.  Either way, it’s a decent deal.)

Aside:  I actually thought I had more than that, but the rest turned out to be a over two hundred rounds of 20ga — yeah, I have still more ammo for a gun I don’t even own (yet) blah blah blah.

N. Texas residents get it hand-delivered, all others need to add the usual shipping and processing fees.

Emails preferred (kim@) from interested parties.

Update:  $old, very soon after the post went up.

One More Reason Not To

Mocking Furriners, Travels

Let’s just go through the catalogue of ways to die in Australia:

  • dingoes which eat babies
  • brown snakes
  • funnel-web spiders
  • sharks
  • saltwater crocodiles
  • Sydney traffic
  • unchecked, uncontrollable bush fires
  • box jellyfish
  • blue-ringed octopus
  • its cousin, the blue-lined octopus
  • stonefish
  • Australian paralysis tick
  • and so many more

Now we can add mouse plagues to this list:

At night, the floors of sheds vanish beneath carpets of scampering mice. Ceilings come alive with the sounds of scratching. One family blamed mice chewing electrical wires for their house burning down.
Vast tracts of land in Australia’s New South Wales state are being threatened by a mouse plague that the state government describes as “absolutely unprecedented.” Just how many millions of rodents have infested the agricultural plains across the state is guesswork.
The plague is a cruel blow to farmers in Australia´s most populous state who have been battered by fires, floods and pandemic disruptions in recent years, only to face the new scourge of the introduced house mouse.

And of course, plagues of mice sometimes result in follow-up plagues of… you guessed it, snakes, which treat this as some kind of Roman orgy of gluttony, and not only gorge themselves but create still more snakes to take advantage of the bounty.

Predictably, this mouse plague is being met with customary Aussie ingenuity and just as predictably, activities like this are being greeted with horror by the Usual Suspects (almost all of whom, of course, live in areas untouched by the mouse plague):

The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) on Tuesday pleaded with farmers not to kill ‘curious animals’ that are ‘just looking for food to survive’.
‘They shouldn’t be robbed of that right because of the dangerous notion of human supremacy,’ PETA spokeswoman Aleesha Naxakis said.

“Human supremacy”, eh?  We should also drop this bunch of rodents into drowning pits and fire barrels.

As a lad, I used to enjoy hunting for mice in the fields nearby our house, armed with my trusty Diana air rifle, but I think my best day only yielded a dozen or so.  This Oz thing is something else altogether.

For Sale 1

Music

For the past four days I’ve tried to play my bass guitar — trying to push through the agony of Olde Phartte joint pain, hoping that with regular practice I could fall into playing it for fun again.

No such luck.  In fact, Day 4 (yesterday) was so bad that I quit after an hour.

I give up.  So:

4 Sale —

Epiphone EB-3 (copy of Gibson) 4-string bass, hard case, spare set of Ernie Ball strings, strap, headphones and cords:

The only mod I made was replacing the utterly useless rotary pickup selector switch with a three-way (bridge, neck and bridge&neck), because the POS rotary broke after a month or so’s gentle (i.e. home) use.  Otherwise in as-new condition.

Price:  Sweetwater has them at $400;  I’m asking $250 plus whatever shipping is required.  (N.Texas residents will get it dropped off at a place of their choice.)

Roland Cube 30 Bass amp (30w, 10″ speaker):

For reasons best known to themselves, Roland discontinued this little sweetie.  I just wish I’d had it as a gig amp instead of the monster I used to slip discs putting into the van.  Everything works as advertised.

Price:   as it’s been discontinued, the closest equivalent I can find is this Ampeg, which is also solid state and 40w, with a 10″ speaker, but with no COSM features.  Guitar Center sells it for $150;  I’ll take $100 for the Roland, plus shipping.  (Same deal for N. Texans.)

So:  $350 for a bass/amp gig setup which quite frankly would have served me well in my misspent yoot.

Let me know by email (kim@) if you’re interested.  I’d prefer to sell them as a package, but that’s not set in concrete.  (BTW:  I don’t haggle, unless we’re talking about an exchange for a .22 rifle or pistol of similar value which is taking up needed space in your safe.)

Update:  I found a good home for the gear:  a young lady heading for a college music school.