Phoenix Panorama

A beautiful day in the desert. The SandCastle crew decided to do something different and head up to the top of South Mountain. "Dobbins Lookout", a small stone building, is at the top. From there the entire Phoenix valley metropolis is visible, from Litchfield and Glendale on the West to Tempe and Mesa in the East. It's a gorgeous view and only a short drive from downtown Phoenix. Head straight south on Central to the park, then follow the signs for the summit or Dobbins Lookout.

Here's a panoramic view. Photos stitched together by AutoStitch (Free download - Click on pic for full size).

Shopping with OPM!

Nothing quite like shopping with Other People's Money.

Tonight was just such a trip. Armed with the $30 Winchester certificate that arrived sent a few days ago to compensate for a recalled batch of .22, we headed out to trade it for actual cartridges.

Needless to say the local store was out of all the usual calibers. Instead I took the opportunity to get some of the more esoteric calibers. You know the ones I normally wouldn't buy. Tonight's haul included:
* 180 gr 30-06
* 12 ga. slugs (one less excuse to skip the local club's 3 gun match)
* .22 Magnum

Normally the slugs are the only one's I'd have bought with my money, but armed with someone else's, why not! Thanks Winchester!

PS, I picked up a package of ear plugs too... turns out they were also Winchester branded!

Disappointment

The SCQueen received the invite to the NRA Annual Banquet and Leadership forum. We had heard rumors Rush Limbaugh would be speaking at the banquet but alas is not so.

The envelope included a small yellow slip of paper that explains that Rush has a prior commitment and the banquet speakers will be John Stossel and Oliver North. Both are good people but they are not Rush. The note about "Saturday May 15th" is clearly a typo (This year May 15th is a Friday). But that's in North Carolina while we'll all be out here in Phoenix. Update: I should know better than to skim & assume. That's next year - (Thanks B).

The letter also notes Alaska Governor Sarah Palin will be the Honored Guest at the Leadership Forum Friday evening.

PS... The SandCastle Crew is still going to be there!

A Tale of Two Recalls

Several weeks ago I tripped across a note referring to a recall of Winchester Xpert .22 ammo. Checking inventory here at the SandCastle, sure enough we had the remains of a box.

I first traded emails and ended up on the phone with the customer service people. It seemed odd that we'd purchased a recalled box more than a year after the recall was issued.

There were only 36 rounds remaining but Winchester really wanted those back! They sent a UPS shipping label and promised to make it right.

There was a hitch in shipping however. Since there were so few bullets left, they were taped to the inside of the Winchester box to prevent rattling, and packed inside of a larger box and stuffed with Styrofoam peanuts. Unfortunately the larger box I'd grabbed was one that had been used to ship me powder and had all sorts of hazmat labels... Which I'd not thought to cover.

The local UPS office called a few days later saying "Ummm, What's in here? The shipping manifest says "bullets" but the box says "Hazmat". I confirmed the box only contained bullets. She then insisted that I had to come down and repack the box. Running a quick calculation "Hmmm, 36 rounds of .22 is worth about 75 cents. Gas to drive to their location and back will be several dollars. Not cost effective." I declined. In effect they could not open the box, nor move it from where it sat. Meaning they couldn't repack it themselves. They also couldn't return it to me nor forward it on to Winchester. They couldn't even throw them away. I suggested they call Winchester. I figured that was it... I'd written off the six bits and forgotten about it.

A letter arrived today. Reads like a form letter intended for someone who had complained about a product:

We would like to thank you for bringing this matter to our attention and for giving us the opportunity to investigate the problem.

Only I didn't bring anything to their attention. They issued a recall and I asked if the box I had was affected.

Anyway, the letter included a certificate for THIRTY DOLLARS of Winchester ammunition! Holy Cow! $30 for 36 rounds! Now clearly this was not intended as in investment, but Dang! I wish some of my other investments would pay off half as well!

On the other hand, Maytag announced a recall today affecting some 1.6 Million refrigerators. Apparently a relay can overheat and occasionally catch fire. The SandCastle's main consumable refrigeration unit may be affected and the SCQueen spent several hours trying to contact Maytag without success. Hopefully this just a first day traffic jam. We'll try again tomorrow.

XXXX Elementary School Parent Survey

The SCSon's school sent home a "XXXX Elementary School Parent Survey".

It contained the usual stuff. What are we doing right, what are we doing wrong.
It lists a couple questions under the heading of "Volunteering" which are all thinly disguised guilt. The real question is "if not,why not?"

The "Safety" section caught my eye:
(click on image for full size)

I'm tempted to answer the first question "none".

Second question: also "none" explaining that "feelings" have no place in safety and security. I don't care that you feel safe enough to leave the front door unlocked at night. It's a stupid thing to do!

3) Allow CCW holders to carry weapons on campus. Explaining the logical arguments: Bad guys are not stopped by the law, they only stop when someone shows up with a gun. Police are at best minutes away, people already on site can stop a bad situation in it's tracks. And how CCW holders are state certified good guys and why.

But I think this is not the place the fight the battle. The prohibition of guns on schools grounds is a state law (ARS 13-3102 (A)(12)). 13-3102.

Misconduct involving weapons; defenses; classification; definitions

A. A person commits misconduct involving weapons by knowingly:
...
12. Possessing a deadly weapon on school grounds;

So that's the place to solve the problem.

At the grass roots level, we are better off working on a personal level and taking teachers and administration to the range. Opining on this form would likely just serve to cause immediate PSH.

Tempe Tea Party

Update & Bump: WBAustin has posted a video of the event to youtube:


The SCQueen and SCSon drove in for the Tempe Tea Party. She reports about 150 people attended. Afterwards she went over and thanked the organizers. State Senator Russel Pearce grabbed the SCSon's hand and thanked him for coming out!

The speakers explained how and our money is being stolen. "Quite the eye-opener!"

Chrono fun!

The BBTOJ brought a new toy this week. I've been looking at Chronographs for a while and a recent Midway email announced a sale. The price was simply too low to ignore ($70 for the bottom line Chrony F1). I considered some of the higher models, but decided the bottom line was all I needed.

The unit worked flawlessly. It only missed a couple shots out of the hundred or so. Recording the data by hand is a PITA. While Chrony offers models that log the data, they are more expensive and weren't quite what I wanted. We can do better (stay tuned)! OTOH, I'm getting to the point where a range trip involves a small trailer. Between the Ammunition, magazines, projectile launchers, targets, spotting scope, and now tripod and Chronograph. The load gets bigger and bigger... where does it end?

This was interesting, if not completely unexpected. Here was have bullets from the same batch* fired through three different length barrels. Barrel length on the X axis and bullet speed on the Y axis. Conclusion: Imagine that, bullet speed is proportional to barrel length.

I'm looking forward to the centerfire comparisons. .223 vs 30.06 vs 8mm Mauser. I hope to throw a .308 into the mix as well but my money is on the Mauser.

* 9mm 7.0 grains AA#7 behind 115grain Hornady FMJ-RN.