Modern and historic

Posted on May 31, 2015 by Oleg Volk

Keltec CMR30 with Primary Arms 4x prismatic scope.

Springfield 1903 rinfire trainer.

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Friends in arms

Posted on May 31, 2015 by Oleg Volk

Modern

Classic.

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One advantage of working with competent models

Posted on May 31, 2015 by Oleg Volk

I don’t own any XD or XDM pistols. This model brought her own pistol to the photo shoot, which gave me an opportunity to include it as a prop.

It’s also helpful that I don’t have to pay attention to safety and other handling details. It’s usually much easier to teach a person competent in some skill or craft how to model than to teach a model or an actor how to fake competency in a craft.

Posted in pistol, weapon | Tagged | 3 Comments

A friend wants to become a gunsmith.

Posted on May 26, 2015 by Oleg Volk

My friend Scott signed up for the Yavapai school of professional gunsmithing. The first challenge was the list of required materials for the first semester, which is beyond his current resources. Part of the list is the expected tools, the other is the unexpected, varied firearms. We are trying to figure out if anyone, organizations or individuals, would be able to sponsor his education or advise on other ways of making this happen. I would appreciate any advice or assistance extended to Scott.

Machine Shop Tools
 Roll away tool chest 18” Deep x 30” Wide x 34” Tall max.
 Dial Calipers
 0-1 Micrometer
 115 pc. Drill Set (The cheap imports won’t work)
 Center Drill Set
 Tap Set (Brownell’s gunsmithing set)
 Tap Wrench,
 60 degree thread pitch gage,
 60 degree center gage
 55 degree center gage
 6” flexible steel rule 16R
 Carbide Scribe
 Dial Test Indicator .0005
 Magnetic indicator base (mighty mag) w/1” indicator
 Indicol or equivalent
 Combination Square,
 Edge Finder
 Gunsmith Screwdriver Set (Brownell’s or Midway)
 Assorted 20 pc. end mill set
 Three 5/16 or 3/8 High Speed Square Tool Bits
 10-12” Bastard Cut File
 File Chalk,
 Ball Hex Wrenches,
 Nylon/Brass Punch,
 Pin Punch Set,
 Nylon Hammer,
 Small Ballpein Hammer (4-8oz.)
 Hacksaw w/24 or 32TPI blade
 12” Cresent wrench
 Tapping Fluid for Steel
 Tapping Fluid for Alum.
 Dykem Layout Fluid, (Blue)
 One padlock 1/4 dia
 Safety Glasses
 Notebooks, Pen/Pencils
Shotgun
 Browning A5 or Remington 11
 Win.12
 Ithaca 37
 Rem. 870 or 1100 series
 Mossberg 500 (aluminum receiver cannot blue but OK for shotgun class)
 Recoil Pad to fit your shotgun Brownells Approx. 20.00
Rifle
 Rem 700
 Win 70
 Savage 110, 112, 116 etc.
 Marlin 336 or 94 Win. (some 94’s will not hot blue)
 M1 Garand or M1A type rifle
 AR-15 type rifle (hard anodized cannot refinish at school)
 One Mauser 98 Bolt Action Rifle the metal should be complete.
Metal Refinishing
Four weapons made of steel (no stainless or
aluminum). Any number combination of rifles, shotguns or handguns.
 Your rifle from the rifle list will work if it is steel & needs refinishing.
 Your shotgun from shotgun class will work if it is steel & needs refinishing.
 Any blued steel pistol or revolver in need of refinishing.
 Rubber Boots
 Heavy Rubber Gloves
 Long Sleeved Shirt (Sweatshirt)
 Particulate Respirator (Suitable for grinding dust & wood dust)
 One bottle of slow rust bluing solution. Brownells
 One gal. WD40 with spray bottle
 One package each of 120, 240, 320, 600 grit wet and dry sand paper.
Note: It is not necessary to purchase all of the above guns for the above classes. They
may be borrowed from friend or family.
General needs
 A personal lap top or a tablet. The facility is wireless.
 3 feet of 1 ¼” mild steel round stock (hot or cold rolled)
 1 foot of ¼” x 4” cold rolled flat stock
 A couple, nasty old used screw drivers for regrinding.
 Also plan on about $100.00 for other misc. project materials.

 

Posted in advice requested, interesting people, rifle, shotgun | Tagged , , | 29 Comments

Laptop recommendation needed.

Posted on May 24, 2015 by Oleg Volk

I am looking for a replacement laptop. Main requirements:

  • Fast processor and enough RAM to run Photoshop
  • Good, non-reflective screen
  • 15″ or 15.6″ screen size to fit my carry-on bag

Secondary requirements

  • Relatively large hard drive
  • Good battery life
  • Windows 7 rather than 8

I checked Dell web site, found something close for nearly $3K. Any other alternatives I should check, either for better configuration or for lower price?

Posted in advice requested | Tagged , , | 15 Comments

Crash space in Indianapolis?

Posted on May 22, 2015 by Oleg Volk

Amie would like to go to the writers’ events at Gencon, I would be tagging along. We looked at hotels and found nothing even close to the location this late in the season. Would anyone living reasonably close to Gencon be willing to host us July 29 to August 1?

Posted in advice requested | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Auctioning off a print for my friend Nicki

Posted on May 18, 2015 by Oleg Volk

nicki_4217

My Nicki friend has a problem: criminal squatters (one of which is a convicted child molester) and an equally criminal judge (whose actions fit the definition of theft under color of the law) who gave them temporary control of her house. Though taking them on directly would have been both efficient and satisfying, she’s going through the courts instead. Her other friends set up a fund-raiser to cover her legal expenses. To help that process along, I am offering a poster print of your choice to the highest contributor between now and June 1, inclusive. Just donate to the cause and let me know when you have, and your choice of photo.

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When “Too Much Scope” Isn’t Too Much: new on AllOutdoor

Posted on May 18, 2015 by Oleg Volk

Lucid 6-24x and other high-magnification scopes for varminting

Posted in hunting, rifle | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Utah friend needs legal/financial advice

Posted on May 18, 2015 by Oleg Volk

A friend just got pre-approved for a home loan. The bank then reversed itself saying that they looked more closely and her credit wasn’t as good. So she dug deeper and found the following:

  • DATC, a tech school which she never attended, claimed that she owes them money and is delinquent in paying
  • Several places listed on the credit report have long since been paid but never updated the information

She can try to contact all of these companies and request statements certifying that nothing is owed to them…but she has only a week in which to get this info to her bank and the process may take longer.

Advice on how to handle this would be much appreciated. Introductions to people who might be able to assist her would be equally welcome.

Posted in advice requested | Tagged , , , | 8 Comments

Portraits of friends

Posted on May 16, 2015 by Oleg Volk

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TUOR Backup Rifle Sights: new on AllOutdoor

Posted on May 14, 2015 by Oleg Volk

Articulated backup iron sights.

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Pocket speedsters

Posted on May 9, 2015 by Oleg Volk

Guardian in 32NAA caliber.

Case-hardened special edition of the Mini Mag, in 22WMR. Hornady 45gr ammunition is designed specifically for short barrels, so it gets 1000fps from this gun vs. 850fps produced by 22LR, and with a heavier jacketed bullet (45gr instead of 40gr unjacketed lead).

Posted in ammunition, pistol | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

The smallest and the largest caliber of the line-up

Posted on May 8, 2015 by Oleg Volk

The largest caliber North American Arms offers: 380ACP.

The smallest: 22 Short.

Posted in ammunition, pistol, weapon | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Poor Jar Jar, I knew him well

Posted on May 5, 2015 by Oleg Volk

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Film reviews

Posted on May 4, 2015 by Oleg Volk

Our Mothers, Our Fathers (Generation War) — a German three-part movie about five friends living through 1939-1945.

Acting – 9/10, including strong performances by secondary characters
Visuals – 9/10, good sense of time and place
Props and authenticity – 8/10, just a couple of glitches
Pacing, editing, suspense – 10/10
Plot – 10/10, not very predictable at all

Overall: highly recommended.

The Sleeping Voice (La Voz Dormida) — a Spanish film about the aftermatch of their 1936-39 Civil War.

Plot – 10/10
Acting 10/10
Props and authenticity – 10/10
Pacing, editing, suspense – 10/10
Plot – 10/10
Visuals 10/10
Music – 9/10, helpful but not memorable in itself

Overall: very highly recommended.

 

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Out-takes from a photo shoot

Posted on May 4, 2015 by Oleg Volk

These were done around the main shoot for Cosplay Deviants.

Continue reading →

Posted in interesting people, nude | 5 Comments

Skynet is my tech support.

Posted on May 4, 2015 by Oleg Volk

Thanks to everyone who helped me, my computer got optimized quite a bit. Thanks to John Lewis, we now have a solution to the freezeups. He ran my PC in Linux, found that the mouse was repeatedly disconnecting. Same happened on a laptop. The culprits turned out to be a pair of bad mice. I am back to working on a reliable and fast PC!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | 4 Comments

Shhh, don’t wake the baby!

Posted on May 3, 2015 by Oleg Volk

I mentioned the .22 Uzi carbine a couple of years ago. This more recent photo is alluding to the early 1970s photo of a West Bank settler.

Posted in interesting people, rifle, self-defense, sound suppressor, weapon | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments

ARAK-21in 7.62×39: new on AllOutdoor

Posted on May 3, 2015 by Oleg Volk

A new 7.62×39 contender

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Two challenges remain.

Posted on May 2, 2015 by Oleg Volk

I have two issues with which I could use help.

The first is my computer — it still has interrupted mouse input, where every so often (sometimes every  few minutes, others every few seconds), the cursor freezes for as little as 1/10 and up to several full seconds, then jumping to where it would have been had the input been uninterrupted.  This happens with several mice and all USB ports which are on different cards. All drivers have been updated. This makes any kind of work very difficult.

The second is the range situation: I need an outdoor range as close to Hermitage, TN as possible. Until April, I had access to a private 200 yard range in Smyrna with really photogenic environment, but that’s no longer in use. I have theoretical access to a farm range an hour North, but with the main owner no longer living there, I feel that I am wearing out my welcome with the caretaker. Also, the drive there and back adds up to two hours per visit. Indoor ranges don’t allow black powder and seldom have lanes over 25 yards. Outdoor public ranges aren’t at all suitable for photography, video or targets other than paper (such as gel for bullet testing or steel). I need to find some place where I could legally shoot and do photography, even if the range is short. I am a polite visitor and don’t leave trash behind or endanger neighbors.

Advice on both of these would be much appreciated.

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