Category Archives: Miscellaneous

And here is the “catch all” category for stuff that doesn’t have its own.

Vortex Viper PST 2.5 – 10x32mm FFP Riflescope Review

Last year I was on the look out for a new scope for my DMR rifle. I purchased the Vortex PST 2.5x 32 mm scope after talking to some friends about their experiences. After using the scope for over as a year I find that the Vortex Viper PST 2.5 – 10x32mm is an excellent scope for the money. The optic is very clear and bright and the finish is a nice matte black. The turrets have the right amount of resistance to them and have a nice positive feel so you know that you have moved the turret. The turrets are easy to read and setting the zero stop with the included brass shims is a breeze.

In my extensive testing the scopes adjustments seem to be accurate. I have used the scope out to 650 yards and consistently hit targets I was aiming at. I have used the shim stop system and it works well. The illumination works great at dawn, dusk, and night. The illumination is not bright enough to been seen during the day but that’s not really an issue since you can see the reticle without any issues. I really like the reticle on this scope as it is very clear and easy to use. Using the mil system to calculate range is easy at most magnification settings except the lower ones.

This is my first, first focal plane scope and so far I am liking it. The eye relief is very generous in the horizontal plane at all magnification settings. The ring that changes the scope’s magnification is pretty stiff and will not be moved on accident. I am able to change magnification with out problems as it feels smooth when the ring is turned though I will be adding a Vortex SV-1 Throw Lever to aid in rapidly transitioning through the magnification settings.

Cons:

I only have one major con and that is that the reticle is pretty small at 2.5x magnification and can be hard to see on darker backgrounds. That is a con of a first focal plane scope though. That being said I don’t think I would want the reticle made thicker to make it easier to see at 2.5x magnification because it’s just the right size at 10x magnification.

Overall I would highly recommend this scope. Especially for a DMR or SPR type rifle. It’s about as close to perfect for that setup as you can get. I have mine mounted on my PWS AR and it’s working great so far.

DMR/SPR Parts List:

PWS Viper Vortex PST

Washington Initiative 591 – Protect Our Guns Rights Act

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by Woodsbum

Since I did a post last week about Washington State’s I-594 and what the initiative really was about, I figured I would do one this week about the counter-initiative that was proposed and is being voted on. This is the I-591. This proposed legislation is only 5 sections long or a total of 3 pages to include the signature sheet. Although I posted a link I will include the whole initiative so it will be easier for you to catch up.

Sec. 1.

A new section is added to chapter 9.41 RCW to read as follows:

It is unlawful for any government agency to confiscate guns or other firearms from citizens without due process.
Sec. 2.

A new section is added to chapter 9.41 RCW to read as follows:

It is unlawful for any government agency to require background checks on the recipient of a firearm unless a uniform national standard is required.
Sec. 3.

The provisions of this act are to be liberally construed to effectuate the intent, policies,

and purposes of this act.
Sec. 4.

If any provision of this act or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the act or the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances is not affected.
Sec. 5.

This act is known and may be cited as the “Protect Our Gun Rights Act.”

This is it… The whole initiative. Nothing more and quite simple….. In reading it it only does the following things:

Keeps government agencies from just coming in and taking a person’s guns without having a lawful, legal proceedings to do so.
Makes it unlawful for any government agency to require background checks that the whole country doesn’t adopt as a standard.

There really isn’t much else there. The real question comes down to this:

What does the potential law really do?

In essence, this disallows any political group to push through any personal anti-gun agendas that are outside of what the country considers its standard. If the entire country institutes a 45 day wait on any firearm sale, then WA will adopt those standards. If the entire country writes new laws requiring only a single background check to be conducted and that person has to maintain the validity of that background check or lose gun rights, then that becomes WA standard. Basically, WA will adopt whatever the federal government mandates and nothing more.

The other thing this does is in reference to gun confiscation. WA residents must be allowed due process BEFORE firearms are confiscated. This means that being accused of a domestic disturbance will no longer be enough to have the Sheriff add your weapons to his personal collection. The police can’t just stop by and take your old 12 gauge just because your neighbor got in trouble for something. It would also mean that government officials could not go door to door and take your firearms like was done during Katrina. Ironically, it just reiterates that our rights should not be infringed upon…… Sound familiar?

No matter what side of coin your political views fall on, this initiative does little more than push gun control measures back onto the federal government and ensures that all current gun owners are allowed to use the court system before they have items of substantial value just taken from them. That is it. Makes me wonder why groups like the American Civil Liberties Union have not pushed for this sort of a law in other states. It protects citizens’ rights established in the US Constitution….. Hmmmmm…..

Thoughts on WA i-594

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by Woodsbum

Being an avid outdoorsman, hunter, shooter, and all around woods kinda guy I have been very scared of the way that groups are pushing their personal agendas on the rest of us and calling it “for our own good.” Since I got my voting packet in the mail yesterday I thought I would post a few things about what is being pushed down the throats of Washingtonians. Although I am very against measures such as this, I wanted to point out a few things.

I am personally against having my name in any government database because of the proven track record of abuse. This information from Freedom in Information Act queries where reporters post firearm permit holders information publicly, lack of security on such information (how many ACA Exchange breaches so far?), and persecution by government employees (IRS anyone?) just reeks of danger to law abiding citizens. The 594 really, truly creates a large firearm ownership database ripe for the plucking.
Virtually every firearm TRANSFER (putting the firearm into another person’s possession such as “hold this while I climb over this fence”) – with very few exceptions – would require a licensed firearm dealer to complete. SO… If I was teaching a hunter’s safety course, I would have to hand the shotgun to a licensed dealer to perform the background check, wait the required time, have the student transport the firearm back to the shooting area, have them shoot, then repeat the process so that I could get the firearm back. If the firearm was handed back or forth before this check was done it would be a felony. No more handling firearms at a gun store either. Buy it, then touch it……
594 doubles the waiting period for handgun sales also. Like this really accomplishes anything. Law abiding people don’t go to the store to buy firearms to kill or rob other people. How does this make any sense?
Again, 594 will specifically regulate transfers, not sales. Under the language of I-594, in virtually all cases, a person merely handing his or her firearm to a family member (other than immediate family) or a friend cannot do so without brokering the transfer through a gun dealer with the accompanying fees, paperwork, taxes and, in the case of handguns, state registration. All of these transfers are obviously creating a registry to begin with even though only the “handgun” transfers are supposedly kept by the Department of Licensing. How could they not be if it has to go to the same place?

I highly recommend that you read the whole initiative. I cannot stress enough how the language of this initiative is based around transfers and not sales. There are some sections to try and mitigate the potential for people to get in trouble for letting someone else touch another person’s firearm, but again it is in normal “political” language that is very open to abuse and interpretation. If you doubt what I just said, take a look at the Washington laws regarding drinking in a bar. This law states that all people consuming alcohol must have a valid ID. There are no age restrictions so a 100 year old person that goes into a bar, by law, cannot enter and drink unless they have a valid ID of some sort. Common sense is gone and there is a $500-$2500 fine even if the 100 year old merely forgot their ID In the car and has a beer.

Although I know the NRA has their own agenda and doesn’t want any sort of registry, I have to agree that this is a bad initiative. Their statistics on how this would only catch less than 1% of the legal sales that end up in the hands of criminals says a lot. These guys get their own guns from the Justice Department so why would they want one from Cabela’s?

Anyway, here are a few videos from the NRA. I am not sure if this really meant that much to you or was helpful. It is an important thing to think about, however. How willing are you to give up all your rights as a citizen even though over 99% of the criminals out there are not affected?

This would affect more cops and law enforcement than it would criminals. Even they would have to go through this whole process if they were trying to even borrow a firearm….. Think about that.

Looking Back at Hurricane Irene

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by Gunguy

I used to live several blocks away from Zone A in NYC. When Mayor Bloomberg issued a mandatory evacuation for Zone A before Hurricane Irene came ashore my lady and I decided to go upstate to the Catskills to avoid any potential flooding. We were located at ground level and we had little faith that our apartment would not get flooded. As luck would have it our apartment was fine when we got back. Unfortunately for a lot of residents in the Catskill Region they were on the receiving end of Hurricane Irene.

After we got to our destination we went to the Fresh Town in Margaretville, NY to do some groceries and stock up on water before the hurricane hit NYC. We expected some rain and some wind. I have been going to the Catskill region with my family for 26 years and we never thought that a hurricane would cause any damage at all. Unfortunately I was severely wrong. It started to rain around 1 pm or so in the afternoon on our way back from the store on Saturday.

When we got home we turned on the TV and watched the reports along the East coast. We were hopeful that he storm would slow down and not hit New York State too hard. I kept calling my family in the city to get periodic updates. They said everything was going ok and that it wasn’t that bad. When I called on Sunday the 28th they said that everything was great. There was no flooding in their homes and the sun was out.

Meanwhile in the Catskills the rain was relentless and showed no sign of stopping. Previously it rained all night and through out the day on Sunday. We heard local radio reports that some local towns were flooding but we didn’t know how severe it was. We were loosing power intermittently and finally around 5pm on Sunday we lost the power all together. I cooked our dinner on a gas grill in the rain while wearing my water proof boots, jacket and pants. After dinner we listened to the radio by candle light and played monopoly. We decided to go to bed early and wake up in the morning and get a fresh start on our journey home to NYC.

When we woke up we were surprised that the power was restored. We quickly realized the day before that we were really fond of electricity and flowing water and we were very happy to have it back. While watching the news we saw video of a river raging through Margaretville. We saw the CVS Pharmacy and the Fresh Town adjoined to it being completely ravaged by water. It was heart breaking. Fresh Town came in a short while ago and took over for the A & P that was in town previously. The company did an outstanding job in renewing the building and having a great selection of produce and beer. Now the whole building was destroyed by the worst natural disaster that I ever personally witnessed in my life.

After witnessing the flooding in Margaretville, NY and the near complete annihilation of Prattsville, NY on TV I started to get seriously concerned regarding our departure from the Catskills. The irony wasn’t lost on me and my significant other. We went to the Catskills to escape the potential damage in NYC to only find ourselves in the middle of a serious natural disaster with almost no way out.

We packed up our things and closed up the house and headed out on route 30 to find that it was closed. After speaking to a NY State Trooper we found out that Route 23 north of us was closed too, as well as parts of the NY State Thruway. He suggested we head back home and hunker down till the roads were cleared. Both of us had work the next day so we decided to take the long way home. We traveled west through the mountains to Oneonta, NY and then towards Binghamton, NY before catching route 8 south and then onto to 86 west to the Palisades Parkway south bound into NYC. The total trip time with rest stops and traffic was 7 and 1/2 hours, which is about 4 and 1/2 hours longer than it would take usually. We got home safe and sound and we learned some lessons which I will go over shortly.

A Bit Off Topic – Officiating Weddings

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by Woodsbum

I know the whole concept of officiating a wedding is a bit off topic considering everything else that is posted on this blog, but I decided to post this for the following reasons:

This whole blog is about doing things yourself and self reliance.
Officiating your kid’s wedding saves money and adds to the special day.
You get to do and say what you want within guidelines of the law.
It’s my blog and I think this is important if you don’t like being at the mercy of others.

This last weekend I performed the wedding ceremony for my daughter. It was a simple, beach wedding that was not very formal or elaborate. As a matter of fact, I made the bouquet and the veil that attached to my daughter’s Cabela’s ball cap….. I know. A bit redneck, but it was how she wanted it. Just to show you how easy it can be to make a wedding bouquet I have included a picture of what I made for her. This was before I did the camouflage ribbon bow and dangle things off the handle.

Daughter’s Bouquet

The whole thing cost me about $55 for the flowers, ribbons, green foam handle and cone shaped base that the handle slipped through. My daughter loved it and I was happy to have been able to make it for her.

Back to officiating the wedding……

Many might not know it, but it only takes a few minutes and about $25-$30 to become an ordained minister with an online church. As far as the state we live in is concerned there are only a few requirements for the ceremony.

Someone with a certain credential must officiate, such as judge or minister of any kind.
Both parties must verbally agree to the marriage with witnesses present.
A license must be purchased.

That is it. If you can get those particulars covered, you can officially marry people. I went through Universal Ministries when I got my ordination. At the time that I got mine there was a few question quiz thing, but that is now gone. You just sign up and order your wall certification. Since there is a physical location for the church, this will actually pass as a regular ordination in most states. Some states don’t care. Just make sure to check your local laws.

After the ceremony I did have to have some signature boxes filled in and will have to mail off the certification of ceremony completion. Seriously, it was so easy that I almost feel like there was something missing.

The hardest part was figuring out what to say. What I did was go over the different lessons and advice that had helped make my marriage as strong as it is today. My wife and I will be married for 20 years this year and we have seen many marriages fail for any number of reasons. Having had the chance to council the kids before they did the wedding and then highlight the important pieces during the wedding is what I feel is a very important piece to their potential success. Marriages are so hard now a days that getting them off on the right foot and with realistic expectations is very important. I am hopeful and confident that I did get that across to them.

For those of you who have ever considered conducting a wedding ceremony for someone, I really do recommend it. It was great to have been the one that stood up and married my daughter off to a great guy. I really was honored to have been able to do it, even though I was nervous as all get out!

I wish my daughter and son-in-law the very best and really do suggest you step up and do something like this for your loved ones. It really will make the day that much more special.