Alpo

People on vacation. The same thing as a timeshare, basically. People in the military who are TDY. I get transferred to Texas for 3 weeks, and I'm not thrilled with the idea of living in the barracks or even the BOQ. So I rent this house off base. For the 3 weeks that I'll be there. People in the military with PCS orders. Give them time to find some place to live, without having to stay in a hotel. There are several reasons for people to rent a house for a month or less.

Elmer Keith was shooting 405 grain bullets in his Single Action Army. Lead, but still 405 grains. He blew the gun up. Of course he was using 458 diameter 45/70 bullets, instead of 454, and that might have had something to do with it. And he was probably trying for 11 or 1200 feet per second. That's why he went to the 44 Special. 45 Colt cylinder walls weren't thick enough for his hot rodding.

My understanding also.

1812 to around 1933ish. Another little corporal decided he wanted to take over the world. 220 would be 2032. I don't think we've got there yet.

And about 120 years later ...

I used to work with this guy years ago. We did some work one time, and the boss had screwed up the instructions, so the job had to be done again. And he grabbed (GRIPED, otto, not GRABBED, you flippin' moron)and complained and bitched for an hour or so before I got tired of it. "Larry, you got paid to do this the first time, didn't you?" And he agreed that he did. "And you are getting paid to do it this time, aren't you?" And he agreed that he was. "So what is your damn problem? I don't care how many times we have to do this job over, as long as I get paid for each time." That poor little funky at Walmart that has to put my stuff back on the shelf - he's getting paid to put my stuff back on the shelf. This isn't a case of MY SHIFT IS OVER AND I HAVE CLOCKED OUT AND I'M READY TO GO HOME BUT OH WOE IS ME I HAVE TO PUT THIS STUFF BACK ON THE SHELF BEFORE I CAN LEAVE, ON MY OWN TIME. THAT DAMN JERK ALPO!!

I was reading his post on grape shot, and got to wondering if the reason the balls were so big was because they needed mass to carry and cause damage. Still being so much lighter than lead. So I look up steel versus lead, and it's about 1/3 lighter (iron masses 71% of lead), so they wouldn't need to make the balls that big for that reason. But then, since I had the various weights of metals right there in front of me --- well, it is early Saturday morning. The Lone Ranger used silver bullets. But he never aimed. Instinctive shooting. How, in reality, would the difference in weight between lead and silver throw him off? The mass of silver, as compared to lead is 92.5%. So a silver bullet cast in a standard 255 grain 45 Colt bullet mold would weigh 236 grains. Not really enough difference to matter. The Lone Ranger should still be able to instinctively shoot and hit his target. But how about gold? The mass of gold as compared to lead is 171%. Gold is much much heavier. Your standard 255 grain 45 Colt bullet would weigh 435 grains. I wonder how much that would throw someone off. In a Gilligan's Island fantasy episode, they were cowboys. Howell and the professor were the bad guys and Gilligan and the skipper were the good guys. The professor announced that they were going to "fill them full of lead", and Howell disagreed. "Lead? A Howell would never use such a plebeum metal. Gold!" So if someone were to reload, during a firefight, with Thurston the Kid's ammunition, I wonder how badly that would throw them off? And before someone says that they shoot 400 grain bullets in their 45, I'm sure that's true. But you're expecting the recoil and the bullet drop of a 400 grain bullet. Somebody grabbing some of Thurston's ammunition would be expecting the recoil and bullet drop of a 255.

Better picture. It's amazing the difference when you clean the lens.

That seems awkward. I have my rifle in my left hand, in front of the trigger guard. As I raise the rifle to shoot, my right hand grasp the pistol grip and pulls the butt into my shoulder, well my left hand slides two to three inches forward on the forearm. I'm in shooting position. But if my right hand is forward of the trigger guard, I have to reach over and take the gun out of my right hand with my left hand, so I can move my right hand back to the pistol grip. Slower, and more steps involved.

So if it's a 1940, it could be 1939 - new cars come out in the fall, and Clark is wearing a flannel shirt while Jonathan is wearing a jacket. Basing the time frame on when the serial was made, and the apparent age of characters, if it was '23 when they found the boy, and he looks to be about 16 in that scene, then it would be '39 so he could have a brand new 1940. '39 would be a little bit early for a 1941.

Skip line checkering doesn't necessarily say Sako. This is a Steyr. I know it is a Steyr because it is my Steyr and I just took the picture. Cheekpiece and skip-line checkering.

It seems to me that a circle would do better than a square. If someone is killed in a circle, you just close ranks and the circle gets a little tighter. But if someone is killed in a square, and you close ranks, your square starts to become a trapezoid.

Ford? Chevy? Dodge?

I knew Penn State didn't quite sound like the right place, but it sounded close. And I was too lazy to look it up. I'm glad somebody did though.

I am watching the serial Superman, from 1948. When Jonathan and Martha find the rocket ship with the baby in it, they're driving what I believe is a Model T pickup truck. Since the series was made in 48, and Clark would probably be about 25 to go off to the big city and get a job as a reporter, then this should be about 1923. Now when he looks to be about 15 or 16 there's a tornado coming and he has to go run and tell Jonathan it's coming. They have a new car now. At least they have another car. That's the one I want identified.

Grease? Grease drips down from the cooking meat, lands on the coals, catches fire, burns away. What grease?

The checkering looks skip line to me, which generally means European.

Why? It doesn't burn up. We lit the coals and we cooked the steaks, and we'd let the coals die out and they turned into powder. And the vermiculite was there the next time we wanted to cook. And it now had a layer of ash on top of it.

I named my muzzleloader after a girl I worked with. Suzi Q. Because she was long, and skinny, and had a big mouth.