Chairmen of the Politically Incorrect

[Walt]

I have shot a couple of FN-FALs and I really enjoyed them. They are so much better that the HK-91s and 93s from a reloading standpoint. I understand that the HK design requires the chambers to be grooved for maximum reliability under the most extreme conditions but it ain't pretty.

I am half-heartedly looking around for a Krag carbine. They make a very nice cast bullet rifle.

[Old Savage]

A winner - .257 ?? Who has one?

[Sixgun]

Krags are wonderful rifles…I’ve had several, all rifle versions. The last one I had was nickel plated and was found in an attic by a guy at work…the rifle was frozen solid from rust. I gave him $10 for it…I think, may have been 20…irreverent anyway. ………….it took me a day and a can of PB Blaster…the insides was like new…about half the nickel plating on the barrel was still there. That $10 rifle was beer can accurate at 200 meters and basketball accurate to 500 meters,,,,all with the 215 gr. Lyman at 1600 which was the intended velocity when Lyman designed it. I shot the hell out of it for 10 years and sold it last year for $500.

Always preferred the rifle in anything due to it being better balanced and superior accuracy .

5th day in a row putting in 10 hour days in the sun. I feel like I could whoop up on Pee Wee Herman…

[OldWin]

Whoop up on Pee Wee Herman?

I'm afraid to ask what that means.


Oh, and I've never owned a Krag. They are super cool rifles though.

[Walt]

Prof. Six, I suppose I could look it up but you're the authority on matters of this sort.... was nickel plating a factory option on Krags? Were there any Krags that were designated strictly for a civilian market or were all of them military issue?

[Sixgun]

Ya know Walt, I don’t know. I do know there were Krag sporters made in Europe and as always, Springfield Armory would make sporters for high ranking officers. Townsend Whelen had sporter 03’s. I believe he talks about Krags at long range with the Lyman bullet he helped design.

Krags are very enjoyable to shoot, especially with the 215 Lyman at 1600. I used to take at least a hundred rounds for each rifle when I went to the gun club……I had that National Match Garand shooting as well with cast as it did jacketed. …….and it cycled perfectly.

I also have a 6 (or 8?) groove Smith Carona 03A3 that shoots like a target rifle. The barrel on the first couple of thousand Smith Carona’s were made by Harrington & Richardson. This rifle was near “as new” when I bought it.

Keep in mind that when I write about a rifle with extra superior accuracy it’s because I’ve been through a dozen of them before the “keeper” came along. I now have 2 safes full of “keepers”…no junk…no Rossi’s, Uberties, Taurus, no junk…..period sold maybe 30 in the last two years which were keepers but no longer interested. I want to get down to about 25 and I’ll die with that number.

Get yourself a suitcase full of green and I’ll send ya home with investment guns which are better than anything banks offer you.——-Professor Six a.k.a.006

[Walt]

My wife and I went on an early morning hike today. We live on the side of the Sandia Mountains opposite that of Albuquerque. We hiked a trail that goes from the paved road to the top of the tramway billed as the longest tram in the world. The top of the tram is at 10,300 ', the top of the mountain is 10,600'.
There were some patches of snow remaining in the more shady areas; the next picture is overlooking Albuquerque before their sunrise. A considerable amount of haziness was apparent and was evidently due to strong winds on Saturday blowing the smoke of a forest fire in northern NM down to the lower elevations.
There were lots of deer on the paved road licking the salt from the snow plows off the asphalt. They didn't want to move even when we drove right up to them. We had a good day, a good weekend.

[Sixgun]

Wow! Those are some very nice pictures suitable for framing…..”so close, yet so far” as to being around people and that’s as perfect as you can get……like that here also…….10 miles away the meat wagons are picking up the dead.

That’s quite a snow machine and is the model showing it off available?

That’s really nice and your weather compliments the locality of your digs……(can I move in?)………

After 5 days of bliss it’s a S storm today…rainy, dark, high humidity, ….me and mom just sitting’ around laughing at other people in the news….got AC on for the second time…dogs are sleeping on the bed….full belly of mom’s greatest “lightly over” Amish eggs. We sit here on days like this and comment on the many types of birds outside of the window by the feeder. Today, I saw it for the first time!. …we have near every type of bird but there’s one I’ve never seen….its a woodpecker that’s like a foot long with a bright red head…..yep, looked like a crow…..always amazed at natures wonders, most of which I didn’t pay attention to for most of my life….in those pre retirement days I would dream of having like new antique Winchesters and Colts……and Rugers…..and Smiths…..and Marlins……..even a few Remingtons……

Oh! The Krag nickel plating…….a parade gun……….

[Walt]

Thank you, Six!

Hey, that makes perfect sense....a parade gun! I don't imagine very many of those were made. And some of them were likely used in 21 gun salutes and such so they weren't neutered.

[Sixgun]

I’d say parade guns were done aftermarket………with all the guys down at the VFW slamming down beers, there was one who worked somewhere where nickel plating was done….then slap on a coat of glossy Zar.

90% humidity…….headed to the mighty Costco tomorrow then after shopping it’s time to dump 2 and a half to 3 C notes on gas and diesel. Both Jeeps and ten 5 gallon cans…..I remember you could get a used junky car for that much money.

[Old Savage]

85° but its a dry heat

[gamekeeper]

59f and anything BUT DRY...

First visit to see the new medical practice here, it's what I would call real cozy only five chairs in the waiting room...the nurse said I was good for another twenty years but I certainly ain't putting any money on that...

[Old Savage]

Very interested in how this transition to 5,000 acres turns out. Keep us updated!

[gamekeeper]

Very interested in how this transition to 5,000 acres turns out. Keep us updated!

I'm really enjoying it, the stores and medical facilities are further away but the roads are quieter and everywhere I look I see trees or moorland not people.

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A folly by the ha-ha in the grounds of the big house.

[gamekeeper]

Apart from my son and his wife these are my nearest neighbours....

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[gamekeeper]

My son's dog Jasper looking over the garden fence

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[OldWin]

Great pictures Walt and GK! Both you guys live in a beautiful place.

Whew! Been out straight all week.
We had some big downpours Monday night. Guess they were worse at camp. We have this canoe rack we made out of a John Deere lawn tractor shipping crate. They were made of steel and were the perfect size for the 4 wheeler. We haven't used it in years, but being hillbillies, we kept it. We leave an old aluminum canoe up to camp and dad had the idea of bringing the rack up and putting the canoe on it down at the landing near the stream.
We put it on the trailer behind Old Red cause Red has a roof rack and we could load the canoe on it and make one trip down to the stream. We got to camp and loaded the canoe and headed down. We unloaded the rack and then I had the bright idea of driving down to the stream and unloading the canoe there and taking a paddle up the stream.
The water was HIGH! Really high! I got Old Red down there but it weren't pretty. Quite a time getting the canoe to where we could get in and get up the stream.
When we got back there was no way we were getting that canoe back on the Jeep. I hitched a strap to it and figgered I'd drag it out with Red. It was dicey backing out of there boys. It was about 75 yards back to the landing and we'd never had made it if Red didn't have a locker.
Headed back up the hill Old Red threw a check engine light. Guess the excitement was too much for him. No biggie. I ran the codes and it was ignition. Time for cap, button, and wires.
Changed the oil and rotated the tires on the Gladiator today. Then took a nice 40 mile ride through the Burrill woods (Cornville) with the trail bike. When I got home I mowed my MIL's lawn.
I'm done.

[Old Savage]

OW, what a perspective that I recall from being there but so different from SoCal.

[gamekeeper]

Nice photos Jay, I always fancied having a canoe but the only land I had access to with a river was way too shallow even the Trout stream that I looked after wasn't suitable and the lake here is strictly reserved for private fishing

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[Sixgun]

I tell ya..,that was somethin’! If I was a stranger and didn’t know anyone, I’d say, “this guy is either the stupidest person on Earth or has T’s the size of basketballs”……..I know what’s it’s like to be stuck out in the middle of nowhere but there were other jeeps with me……looking at those water puddles you never know what lies under them……sometimes it’s a rock and sometimes it’s 20 feet of muck.

You have big ones Jay. On the canoe I can make ya one out of cans….down the road the bro’s drink these malt liquor cans that are about 3’ long and a foot wide….these cans have writing on the side, “Big Cans Fo Da Hood”. Get about 4 of em and tack em together with 1/4” self tappers and some Home Depot silicon, cut out a little spot for your head and use the bone in your nose for a paddle.

I’m having a lot of ag around here……near two weeks straight everyday our in the yard cutting grass and as soon as I get things looking proper it’s time to start over…noooo way I can go more than 3 days, 4 tops between cuttings….and then power washing the mud……….and then regreasing all of the zerks. $171 for gas three days ago and I already burned up $35 of it….

Carry on ……The “0”

[OldWin]

Cool little camp GK. Nice spot.

Haha yeah, I'm sure I look pretty stupid running the Jeep out there. However, I know the ground, I know the Jeep, and I have all the recovery gear and experience with this stuff I need to get me out of about anything. I'd never run either of the Jeeps out there before, but I was pretty sure there was enough of the old road bed left to hold the Jeep. Nothing but a Jeep will do when it comes to stuff like this.
I only wish I'd thrown in some fishing gear. There's nice brookies in our stream. Oh well....

[Sixgun]

I know that…it’s called a “positive calculated risk”………”knowledge is power”………I didn’t know or read well enough there was a buried road bed….

OK, time for laughs…….I told you before how wasteful my wife is with food……..I tell her aaaalllll the time that there’s children around the world with nothing to eat.. …remember that growing up?…….

I also told you about a year ago how I threw out old hoagie rolls about a foot long and a crow grabbed one and flew past my SIL’s house about 250 yards as the crow flies. My SIL called mom and said, “you won’t believe this but a crow just flew past the house with a hoagie roll in his beak.”

It happened again today….last night I threw out a dozen thick rolls …for big hamburgers……in the back dooryard……..just 15 minutes ago my SIL asked mom if she threw out any rolls as a crow just flew past her window with a big roll……..and then this morning I threw out a dozen pancakes that mom made…why? I don’t know as I can only eat 1 or 2…….and we watched the Blue Jays fight over them. They were tearing them up, flapping their wings against each other………..I tell ya, it’s better than watching the first 10 minutes of the news.

[OldWin]

Haha crow hoagie!
Yup. My wife is the same way. Makes me sick. That AIN'T how it was at home when I was growing up. And it's not how I am. That, and buying cheap Chinese garbage that don't amount to anything and is broke or wore out in a week.
Anyway..... I'm done.

[Sixgun]

Maybe they are sisters from another mother…..yea, like you, I am not wasteful with anything unless there’s a billion of them laying around. Grew up the same way. While we were living comfortable, there wasn’t much extra. I only had ONE toy to play with and that toy has been with me since birth. If it misbehaves, I beat it like it owes me money. ——006

[Old Savage]

94° here, still not enough to sweat, dry, light breeze.

[Sixgun]

54 now…….flannel shirt weather………I believe it only got to 70…….if the weather could stay this way for the rest of my dwindling days, I’d accept it.

Jay considers 40 degrees T shirt weather…I saw it…..

This 54 degree weather with little to no wind is the perfect sleeping weather……leave the window cracked about 4”.

[Walt]

In this part of the country most people have swamp coolers....evaporative coolers; the number of refrigerated air conditioners is smaller. They only work when the humidity is less than about 35%. We have two of them; one on the upstairs roof and the other on the ground for downstairs. Our highs are getting into the middle 80s so I hooked up the one on the roof early this week. Our lows are in the mid 50s so we turn off the swamp coolers and open the windows at night. There's no sense in even turning them on in weather that's hot and humid. Otherwise they work reasonably well. Windows need to be open a bit for air flow, otherwise they certainly live up to their name cuz it feels swampy inside.

[Sixgun]

Humidity is my number 1 nemesis…….another beauty today…70, low humidity, sunshine……..and I have to dig out twenty 4x4’s for a new set of steps out back. I’m done playing with wood that rots or is unstable…..

I never pay for anything that I can do myself.

Bye bye, good day and make the Dems pay come November. I believe this will be the straw that breaks the camels back if another stolen election hits us…..I want to go back to seeing white people on commercials.——006

[OldWin]

It's 70 here today. Clear with a nice breeze. Beautiful out. It was 45 thus morning. Perfect weather. It'll get hot though. Hate it.

Haha yeah. Can't beat a free fix. We got a free pushmower from the neighbor. Took the old man an hour or so and he had it running. We are going to put a "lift kit" on it and convert it to tow behind the 4 wheeler with adjustable offset positions. Then we can use it to mow the center and sides of the road up to camp.
Love hillbilly engineering.

[Sixgun]

Yea…yea……that’s what I did last year or the year before…can’t remember…….took the wheels off and put on a set of 10 or 12 inchers…….cuts around 6”. I had the Makita angle grinder on it and I cut away all kinds of useless S. I call it my “swamp machine” that I use out at the pond in the mushy areas. You’d laugh your T’s off as I cut out the area where the grass comes out about a foot. Used it 2 days ago.
Ain’t safe anywhere around here…we are proud to have the least child safe house in the county. Heck, dangerous for adults too, especially if they stop in unannounced. Lost a mess of single action Colts a few years back and that ain’t happening again.

Some big guy in a buffalo coat just came charging in and tried distracting me by having a Playboy model in front of him.

[OldWin]

Well that's just awful! Who would stoop so low to do such a thing? And to a nice feller like you too!
What a no good low down skunk. I'd fix that guy if it's the last thing I did.
Probably the woman was a victim too! Got pulled into a white van with no windows!

[gamekeeper]

Sixgun should have known better than to let anyone wearing a buffalo coat anywhere near his collection of Colts and Winchesters but I too would have been distracted by the extremely attractive female that hangs around that guy with the buffalo coat.

[Sixgun]

You’re right GK……it was a classic case of “distract and grab”……if he wants anymore he’d better hurry because the herd is getting thinner.

For the last two days I’ve been building a new set of steps for the back dooryard out of recycled 4 x 4’s that used to be fenceposts…..none are perfect and all have some kind of a bow or twist in them which makes it incredibly hard to keep it all square. I’m glad it’s just steps…or a ramp in this case. For real….the wood was free but the screws were over a hundred bucks.

These coated screws are not cheap, especially the 6” ones but they last a life time……Im going to take out the old screws from the old steps as they look no different than when I put them in 10 years ago..

[snkbittin]

You guys have been busy!! .. and all seem good which is nice to see .. not much here in Mass ..Colt went and re-introduced the Snake guns and I saw that Mass had the 6” and 8” Anacondas on the list as ok to sell.. got the 6 and found a shop who.. bends the rules a lil and got the 4” .. now I want the 3” Python I gotta get some more $$ .. all good here and My Grandson keeps me young when he’s here .. loving his 60’ Wheel Horse and burning gas faster than I can in the Shelby

[gamekeeper]

Good to hear from you snkbittin...
Nice to see your grandson getting into mechanical man toys I bet he can't wait to get his hands on them Colts

[Sixgun]

Hey Snake dude! Yep, you can never go wrong with a Colt. Although I like the mechanics of a Smith better, the Colts have the edge on desirability.

That old Wheel Horse…..am I blind as it looks like there’s no engine in it? Your grandson is riding high! Got the tractor and a red trailer, all looking like new…..that boy is going to remember these days….

Not much here either except humidity. I just got done smashing up the old steps to the back door. I built in 2016 ? out of red oak. Painted/stained, quality coated screws…….sits on cement that’s covered by sunshine at daybreakt until about 6…thought I was done for life.

Half rotted out in 5 years…..fixed, repainted, added supports..blah blah……….looked underneath it last week and these black beetle like bugs, the size of small cars were coming out of the wood. It’s all in the burn pit now.

The bottom of the door to the patio is 22”. I should have locked the door or taped it…..mom and the dogs came flying out of the house and took quite a tumble……(I made that up)….got an 8’ ramp now using recycled 4x4’s that used to be fence posts…solid but not as straight as new ones…..

[OldWin]

Hey! Look at all the activities! Snkbittin even showed up!
Nice hardware! I will confess that I like the new Colts too. I really want one of those 4" Anacondas. Hard to justify as I have 3" and 6" Smiths, but I still want one. And the LAST thing I need is another 357. I have a new 4" Python and love it. I also want a 3" King Cobra, and maybe the new 3" Viper instead.
Oh! And love the old Wheel Horse man!

Sorry about the rotten steps Six. Sucks when stuff don't last.

Hey GK, hope all is well in your new digs!

So, after a real garbage night at work, I came home and took a 3hr power nap. Then I loaded up the old Jeep and headed for camp. I still had 2 trees down I had to get out and buck up. Should be the last of the firewood. The old Jeep played skidder for awhile. Much easier to buck it up in the road, than cut it back in the woods and have to lug it through a 6 foot ditch. Then I brought the tractor down, threw it in the bucket, and piled it back at camp. Then I ran the tractor through a couple twitch roads and opened em up some.
Enough for today.

[Old Savage]

Hacked, any experience?

[gamekeeper]

Hacked ? no neither by internet or hatchet, what happened

I see native Americans are doing adverts for hair shampoo "if you have a dry flakey scalp just throw it away"...

[Sixgun]

They can hack me all they want…my credit rating is ZERO……

That’s some pretty big timber you are pulling out young man……my guess it’s Rock Maple that’s 400 years old with a girth about 11 feet in diameter………here, in redneck land we call that kindling…..………maybe even toothpicks. You must have one of those winches that are 50,000 lb rated…………every camp needs a name…yours can be called “Big Timber Lodge”

Let’s get GK’s opinion on the size of those behemoth logs……

My hypothesis is that all of the big timber was cut out a long time ago.

Just another day..80 and sunny

[gamekeeper]

Nice easy size for splitting is all I got to say
Good to know that everyone is keeping busy, I have some painting to do (my least favourite job) so I'm putting it off until the inspiration kicks in.

[OldWin]

There's very little if any old growth left in Maine. Most of it has been cut over several times. Logging has been THE industry here for generations. Most of the huge old pines along the Penobscot were gone by the 1890s.
The area my property is in is all gown over farms. It was all fields and cleared till after the war or thereabouts.
Plus, I don't need a lot of wood, so I cut standing dead, dying, or broken off stuff. I don't care much about size. It doesn't take a lot to heat an 8x23 building haha.

[Sixgun]

Well, I knew my previous statement would draw the hermit out of the woods!

Maines growing season is short so there’s not a whole lot of time for tree to get ….i have two wild cherry trees I planted in ‘76 and they both have 4’ trunks…….

It’s a shame the way all of those old growth trees were cut down…….around here they are called “first growth trees” from the 1700’s and they only exist on DuPont estates like Longwood Gardens……..people from all over the world come to see these trees and the late DuPont conservatory there…..lit truly is amazing……there’s even banana trees in these huge greenhouses.

Time to fuel up and cut……big storms coming our way tonight and the next three days.——-00

[OldWin]

They figure those pines along the Penobscot were hundreds, if not a thousand years old. They were massive. I just would have liked to have seen what it looked like back then.

[Sixgun]

It probably looked like big trees, people with Mohawk haircuts, no trash or appliances along the trail, clean woods and water, no protestors with fuzzy hair, the people all spoke one language, no courts, cars, or anything that makes noise. Must have been nice. We have to admit the European white man screws up everything natural and the others screw up everything, even the air they breathe.

Storming here, dogs are hiding in the bathroom or under the covers.

[Walt]

I'll have to say that nowadays the Indians are not that careful with their environment. There are lots of Indian reservations and pueblos around the state and generally they're more trashed up than comparably-sized white villages.

[Sixgun]

Yea…..I’ve heard the same from my son. Most people forget, the American Indian went from a Stone Age culture and jumped instantly 10,000 years or so……..their minds cannot comprehend money, housing, rule of law and a host of other things from a white mans culture that developed over many years. They probably lived day by day. I’ve read several books on their mindset and living ways and one author, who wrote a book in the 1890’s noticed one similarity between the different tribes…….no anxiety……..fear maybe, which is natural.

Lack of money will provide lots of anxiety. I told my kids while growing up, “if you walk out that door with no money in your pocket, your nothing and people will step on you like a wet rag…..

Meanwhile, in the Maine backwoods, the 4 wheel drive clubs are in high gear…..well, low gear.

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[OldWin]

Well, we got mom home from the hospital in Portland. Had her 2nd knee done. She'll be doing jumping jacks in a couple days. Tougher than a bag of hammers. She's almost completely rebuilt now. Just one original hip left. She'll be good for another 100 years.

[Sixgun]

Good for mom….wish her well……I personally will not get any replacement anything…….Like the Covid “vaccine”, I’ve seen the other side where things go wrong and the people are either dead or seriously f up for life.

No more steps in the back dooryard…….all made with recycled 4x4 fence posts…..free except for the $60 in screws and the $49 gallon of Behr weatherproofing stain which I sprayed on using 50 pounds of air pressure ……gets in all of the nooks and crannies. This ramp is so strong I could drive the Jeep on it.

Humidity must be 90%….I sweat just standing there and the dogs pant in the shade.



Dogs on the table, right where they belong.

[OldWin]

Yeah no doubt. But Ma has had a hip and 2 knees done and her quality of life is way better than not being able to get around.

Hey! That ramp looks great buddy! Good work.