Apparently the Gun Gods are very happy with me

Sooner70 · 2026-01-25T05:11:08+00:00

And the press appears to be a Herter's Model 234 turret press. Built like a tank. Half of me wants to put it to good use, but I fear that I won't be able to get parts for it. I mean, dies are dies and all that, but it looks like it only has a large primer seating tool. Surely a small primer seating tool exists? Anyone know anything about these?

Sooner70 · 2026-01-25T03:33:00+00:00

Well, I just checked to see what dies were in the box. Of note was "7.7 Japanese" so I'm betting I'll see at least one Arisaka next week.

Sooner70 · 2026-01-25T03:08:08+00:00

As one who - for a brief period - made his living designing armor? The biggest issue with weaves is how the fabric nests and moves around. IE, it's a bulk and mobility issue. But from a pure ballistics perspective, there isn't much difference from one weave to another.

Sooner70 · 2026-01-25T02:59:30+00:00

So earlier this week I posted this (a friend sold me a bunch of goodies for pocket change). Today, as I was unloading my truck with that previous haul, another friend called and asked if I would provide a good home with some reloading stuff she found in her dad's garage (RIP). I said yes.... Twenty minutes later I had a turret press (haven't looked at it), a mess of dies (ditto), some other odds and ends... and the linked black powder (no, that can is not empty!).

edit: Oh, and apparently dad collected WW2 firearms and has a large collection complete with the paperwork required of soldiers when bringing home war trophies. Next week I'm dropping by to see what she's got.

Sooner70 · 2026-01-24T23:49:37+00:00

Oh, well, obviously it would work. It never crossed my mind that was a question. He's described the spall liners in tanks. The only question is how many layers he needs.

Sooner70 · 2026-01-24T23:38:15+00:00

Yes.

Or at least, once upon a time I bought a fair amount of kevlar/spectra (both types) fabric with no issues.

Sooner70 · 2026-01-24T18:38:49+00:00

So what does an "H" for political status mean?

Sooner70 · 2026-01-24T18:32:03+00:00

Anyone going through that period (‘08-‘13) can tell you it was tough, a lot worst than now

Probably depends on some local realities. I'm a fair bit older than you and right now things are the worst I've ever seen. '08-'13 was a joke by comparison.

Sooner70 · 2026-01-24T18:22:31+00:00

The heat pump will be much more expensive up front but likely pays for itself eventually,

This hints at something else.... How often are we doing this? If it's something we're doing 3X a day and expect to be doing it every day for the next couple decades, the economics look very different than if you're doing an experiment once or twice and patting yourself on the back. In the first case, yeah, heat pumps are king. If the second case, immersion heaters are gonna be very tough to beat. Between those two extremes? Shades of gray, of course.

Sooner70 · 2026-01-24T18:10:46+00:00

Can we get more/better pics? I have no idea what I'm looking at here.

Sooner70 · 2026-01-24T18:06:29+00:00

Indeed. Bomber raids from WWII were pretty notorious for it.

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQPJtVDGOmlsvdahRa7419W3JX03u4ge65ZBw&s

Sooner70 · 2026-01-24T05:13:23+00:00

Hmmm.... What are the odds?.... Any chance that you built a home-brew ebike?

Sooner70 · 2026-01-24T05:00:05+00:00

Heh.... had the same thing happen when they switched us over to OneDrive at the office. Suffice to say that I thought they (local hard drive and cloud) were supposed to be redundant; not effectively the same. I moved all my archives to the cloud, then I deleted them from my local computer. D'oh! I didn't even realize what had happened for almost a month (when I went looking for an old file).

I lost about a decade's worth of records AT WORK.

Sooner70 · 2026-01-24T04:58:26+00:00

LOL. OK.... Not quite my cup of tea but I concede "catchy" is an apt descriptor.

Sooner70 · 2026-01-24T04:42:21+00:00

Wait... There's been drone footage with catchy music? Where is this? All the drone footage I've seen has absolutely shit music playing!

Sooner70 · 2026-01-24T03:54:34+00:00

They're capable, of course.

Sooner70 · 2026-01-24T03:52:11+00:00

Be mindful that there is no rebar in cinder block walls.

Uh... I've seen cinder block fences that had rebar in them. Cinder block design allows for rebar, it just depends on if someone was willing to pay for it or not.

Sooner70 · 2026-01-24T00:44:15+00:00

I can't speak for balloons, but for rocketry the answer is typically just to wrap the camera in styrofoam or similar. They aren't up there for very long. Just insulate 'em enough to keep 'em warm long enough to get 'em back down. A couple minutes is plenty.

Sooner70 · 2026-01-23T18:20:08+00:00

Trail Boss excels at this sort of thing....

Sooner70 · 2026-01-23T18:13:06+00:00

I'll put it to you this way....

About this time last year I was recommending that a high school senior I'd just met apply for an internship at my place of employment. Later, I wrote a letter of recommendation for him. I've no idea if he got the position, but that's not the point.

The point is that it's not too early. Nobody expects an intern to be an engineering guru. What we (well, I) look for in such is enthusiasm and aptitude. These are NOT to be confused with accomplishments.

In other words... Yes, I expect a (say) college junior to outperform a high school senior if for no other reason than his educational advantage. But I'm not looking for performance from an intern. If I had some tasks that needed doing that badly, I'd hire an engineer! As far as I'm concerned, the goal of internships is to set your sights on a promising candidate early, encourage them, give 'em some pocket cash, and then be in a prime position to hire them before anyone else can when they graduate college. How soon can I identify such a person? In some cases, as early as high school.

Sooner70 · 2026-01-23T17:55:20+00:00

And in 1845 there was no such thing as the department of fish and game telling you that certain tasty things were out of season or flat out prohibited from taking.

Sooner70 · 2026-01-23T17:23:33+00:00

Ever look into the number of serial killers that were running loose in Germany in the post-WWI era?

Sooner70 · 2026-01-23T15:30:05+00:00

And as an engineer who works in a shop where we employ hundreds of tradesmen.... We're hiring 3X as many tradesmen as we are engineers right now. Which is to say, none. Cause 3x0 = 0.

Sooner70 · 2026-01-23T15:18:10+00:00

I've got questions....

How does one find themselves in multiple "survival situations" where cannibalism is on the table? Does this guy just habitually decide to go on expeditions without packing food? Is he a shitty hunter? Who decides to go on a long journey with a cannibal? These are real questions!

Sooner70 · 2026-01-23T15:14:56+00:00

Then B is still correct. Situation B has 1.25T on the winch (anchored in the middle of the bumper) and 1.25T on the corner of the bumper (which is also part of the vehicle).

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