4/3/13

Ok, remember the other day I told y'all about buying a Marlin bolt-action .22 rifle?  Did I also mention that when I sold the .22 caliber Beretta Neos, I took the red-dot optic off of it and installed it on the new Marlin?  I did.  Well last Friday I decided that I didn’t really like the red-dot and wanted a proper scope for it.  I removed the red-dot and packed the gun up to bring along to the shop with me on Saturday.  After we ate lunch, I took it to the range in Whiskey Flats and bought one.  The guy took a little time installing and leveling it, and then I took it into the range.  I shot a few rounds from seven yards to make sure it was on the paper then rolled the target out to fifteen yards.  I tweaked the point of impact and got it hitting pretty close to where I was aiming.  I ran the target on out to twenty yards and upped the power on the scope.  After a few more tweaks to the point of impact, I had it hitting right where I was aiming.  I shot a few at twenty five yards and then brought it back in to fifteen.  It was a tad high at fifteen but I fingered I could compensate since it was dead on at twenty.  I burned about sixty rounds and finally decided I'd wasted enough time.  So, to make a short story long, I'm really proud of my little Marlin .22 and new scope.  I think I might be able to keep the stew-pot full of squirrels once civilization collapses… until I run out of squirrels and/or ammo of course.  My sister half-ass invited me to go shooting with her, my brother-in-law, the sheriff of Hood County, and his wife on Sunday.  I waited around to hear from her until dark thirty.  Turns out they didn’t go after all.  I was planning to take the two Bullpup Saigas with me to make sure they both function, but alas t’was not to be.  John and I discussed cars, and A-series engines, and transmissions, and rear axles, and stuff last night.  I think I convinced him that we need to swap axles in George the next time we’re working at the shop.  As long as there is the possibility to plop an A-series in that chassis in front of that 4.11 axle, I'm going to be tempted to keep the car.  I do not need to keep that car.  It will sell faster, for more money, with the two-liter engine.  I'm sure of it… well, pretty sure of it.  Thing is, if we did put an A-series in it, hooned it for a while, then sold it, the next dude would probably just yank the donk and put in a bigger one.  All of our time and money building a fun little A-series would be wasted.  Besides, that same engine and axle would be a bigger hoot in the Spit… I think.  The axle swap, and removal of the existing engine, should be doable in one Saturday morning.  I don’t think it will waste too much more Lil' Wiggly time.  Of course it has been several weeks since we’ve turned any wrenches on Lil' Wiggly… and the Rat Rod cab purchase is going to eat another.  I hope we haven’t already back-burnered Lil' Wiggly into oblivion.  I think if I can keep my mind… ok, my hands off of the Rat Rod, I can get back into finishing Lil' Wiggly.  We all know my mind is totally trapped in Rat Rod mode.  Speaking of which, my zorst stack rain cap flappy things should be arriving today.  Yes, I've already bought parts for a project I should NOT even be thinking about.  I'm also still the high bidder on that Oliver tractor nose.  It is in Oklahomo so I was thinking I might try to save the $42.00 shipping… until I looked at WHERE in Oklahomo it is.  Yeah, it is north of Tulsa… I'm not driving ten hours to save fifty bucks!  I suppose I could ask Navaho to run up there and bring it down the next time he’s in town, since he lives in Tulsa… but I'm not going to do that either.  No, that is quite a reasonable shipping cost, I think.  Oh, want to hear the latest wacky idea I've had for the Rat Rod?  I'm thinking that since Model As have sort of open roofs, usually filled with wood and leather and people and motors and shit, I'd fill mine with… wait for it… a swamp-cooler air conditioner!  I even spent a little time this morning researching how to build one.  I think it would be a pretty simple thing to do.  I'd make a little drip-tray thingy over which I'd suspend the cooler media.  Air would be ducted from the front of the housing through the media and down into the cabin, perhaps with an auxiliary fan.  The drip-tray would drain down into a reservoir behind the seats where a little pump would feed water up to a spray bar thingy above the media to keep it wet.  If the majority of the water were kept low in the chassis, there would be less likelihood of it “raining” on you while driving… not to mention, help the car’s center of gravity.  “The car’s center of gravity?”  I told you NOT to mention the car’s center of gravity!  Aaaah, Benny Hill.  How we miss thee.  Anyhoo, I probably won't make a swamp cooler roof for the Rat Rod though.  If I do decide to go for air conditioning, I'll use the environmentally UN-friendly approach of a standard Freon based system for two reasons.  One: they work better in the relatively humid environment in which I live, and B: I wouldn’t want people to think I give a shit about the environment.  Of course building a Rat Rod pretty much says, “Fuck the environment,” so I probably don’t need to worry too much about “B.”  Well, since it is rapidly approaching 1600 h, I think I'll call it a rant and go hang out with Larry.  Toodles.