u/Excelsior_76

The Coen Brothers' first movie, Blood Simple, has a number of themes, characters, and imagery that reoccur in their other movies.

In this case, there is a somewhat pathetic private detective who slinks around, tailing people, and sitting parked for long periods of time in his blue VW Beetle!

But this fellow shamus is named Loren Visser, not Da Fino. There are a number if ither similarities between this movie and The Big Lebowski, like intrigue, significant misunderstandings, break-ins, the defiling of home furnishings, missing money, coitus, and a MacGuffin that never really gets resolved.

There is no toe, but there is a bitten finger (no nail polish). But no bowling. Or Sam Elliott. Or Caucasians, Gary...

So, Blood Simple is more like the compromised first draft, you know, man? Sir?

But it's still worth a watch, once you get your cable fixed.

This is a repost of a post I deleted because I forgot to include some pictures (and you can't add later in edit).

I have become captivated by mid-to-late 19th century rifles and carbines. So I was really excited to pick up this clean, complete, and unaltered / unrefurbished Model 1873 Trapdoor, recently.

It was built in 1880, and was inspected and passed by Samuel W. Porter (unfortunately the cartouche is a bit mangled). As far as I can determine, with a serial number of 132,XXX, it very likely was shipped west to supply US Army infantry, towards the end of the Indian Wars.

It has clean, crisp proof marks, and still retains its original (and year appropriate) 1879 Buckhorn folding rear ladder sight, having avoided rearsenaling in the late 1880s and 1890s that would likely have seen it updated with an 1884 rear sight.

I don't have any pictures of the bore (still need to scope it) but it looks to be shootable.

Also, the sling appears to be fairly old, despite being in good shape, and quite supple. There's no way this is original, is there?

I'm still feeling my way around this Trapdoor. To those with more actual knowledge, what am I looking at here, and how did I do?

I have become captivated by mid-to-late 19th century rifles and carbines. They represent a fascinating explosion of technological evolution, showing constant adaptation to rapidly emerging innovations in firearms architecture, loading and firing systems, propellant, and ammunition. Plus, I like how eccentric and fussy they are, especially compared to the fairly static firelocks of the 18th and 19th centuries, and the bolt-action systems that became largely standard by the turn of the 20th century.

So I was really excited to pick up this clean, complete, and unaltered / unrefurbished Model 1873 Trapdoor.

It was built in 1880, and was inspected and passed by Samuel W. Porter (unfortunately the cartouche is a bit mangled). As far as I can determine, with a serial number of 132,XXX, it very likely was shipped west to supply US Army infantry, towards the end of the Indian Wars.

It has clean, crisp proof marks, and still retains its original (and year appropriate) 1879 Buckhorn folding rear ladder sight, having avoided rearsenaling in the late 1880s and 1890s that would likely have seen it updated with an 1884 rear sight.

I don't have any pictures of the bore (still need to scope it) but it looks to be shootable. Fortunately, I just got word about some older (but probably not vintage?) ammo, though I also intend to buy some modern, Trapdoor-safe rounds, and get set up to reload, as well.

Despite spitting out all these stats, I'm still feeling my way around this Trapdoor.

To those with more actual knowledge, what am I looking at here, and how did I do?

I started building 30MM models before I built my first actual Gundam. I liked that they are Bandai, and use the same design and construction principles, are the same scale, and are interchangeable (which importantly, includes the decals), and they were much more affordable when I first got into Gunpla, so they were low-risk test beds for practicing scribing, pla-plating, painting, and weathering techniques.

These are Portanovas, with some assorted armor and weapons from 30MM optional packs, but I used water slide decals from a couple of different third-party Gunpla manufacturers.

Feedback and critiques are welcome!

Who is this guy sitting behind Walter, trying to enjoy his constitutionally-protected right to finish his coffee in peace?

As always, actual in-the-know answers would be far out, man.

And if anyone says it's Knox Harrington, I'll cut off your Chonson.

I just noticed this whole pile of shoes on the steps. What's that about?

I anticipate the usual fatuous quips in response (please don't disappoint me on that - after all, this is my first post here), but the straight dope would be interesting too, if you're not into the whole brevity thing.

I recently acquired this.45 caliber Miroku Ultra-Hi black powder flintlock.

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It has what appears to be a non-trivial crack forward of the trigger guard and extends underneath the rear barrel band. It seems the previous owner "fixed" it by smearing some kind of putty into the crack.

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I cannot imagine what might have caused this. Nothing appears to be out of sorts with the barrel and lock plate, &c. but I have not disassembled it yet, so I cannot say how extensive the crack / damage is.

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If it is just the stock, I suspect I could replace that for less than $100, but I am curious as to whether this is a common issue with these, and if anyone here has any thoughts on what I am looking at?

A couple of the old girls laying out and getting some sun, with their second application of Tung oil.

From front to back:

1942 Springfield M1 Garand

1918 BSA SMLE Mk. III

1916 Winchester P 14

1914 Steyr M.95 (stock only)

1943 BSA No. 4 Mk. I

Unfortunately, I didn't take a post-oil picture of the SMLE, which is too bad because I used RLO on this one, and I want to take note of any color change over the next few months.

The M.95 is part of a cleaning project I am doing on a wall hanger that I will post some pictures of, soon.

They sat out for about 5 hours on a breezy, sunny, low-humidity afternoon. Afterwards, the glossiness largely turned to satin, and they were dry to the touch.

This is the cleanest SKS I have ever seen. Bought it from a guy who was liquidating his collection (less than 500 beans), including accessory pouches, cleaning kit, and oiler.

The N prefix makes it a Zastava, late-70s production. It's all matching, but also has some force-matched electro-penciling on the trigger guard and behind the rear sight. I am unsure what to make of that.

Otherwise, it looks practically new.

I would be happy to have any thoughts on this.

It is asked a lot by folks just getting interested in collecting and maintaining milsurp rifles. And I know there are just as many answers as there are questions regarding how to maintain the wood on an M1 Garand.

Because it was asked in another post, I have listed below the steps I take, this time with two pics: before and after I treated it (parched, and then juicy).

I'm sure others have some perfectly valid approaches that differ from this, and I would love to hear thoughts on this. But...

HERE'S WHAT I HAVE BEEN DOING:

These days, I am using Hope's Tung Oil (was a recommendation on Amazon) and I have used it on a bunch of rifles. I found it to be very easy to work with, and it dries much faster than anticipated. I recommend it.

STEPS:

1_ I use a dust / tack cloth to remove dust, etc. from the wood. If you need to clean more thoroughly, use diluted warm soapy water, with a damp (not wet) cloth.

2_ With a clean, dry towel, apply the tung oil liberally to all wood surfaces. Don't worry if it gets on the metal.

3_ Let it soak in for about 10-20 minutes, then with another clean, dry towel, wipe off the excess. Don't be bashful - wipe it off, so you just have a bit of a glisten to the wood. Thin coats dry faster, and don't leave any pooling or sticky residue.

4_ Let it dry, like this: Ideally, it is a sunny, low-humidity, breezy day, and you can leave itboutdoors for the afternoon. But you can alsi dry it indoors with a fan blowing on it. If you have a UV / grow light, shine that on it as well, and let it sit overnight.

The popular wisdom is to give tung oil at least 24 hours to dry, but I have found this process will get it dry to the touch in about 4-6 hours, though if you can, give it 12 hours.

You can repeat this 1-2 more times, depending on how thirsty the wood is, and I'd do this all again in 6 months or so, depending on how dry your climate is, and how often the rifle gets handled.

I look forward to hearing what everyone else thinks, and will be happy to learn something new about this topic, myself.

To commemorate D-Day, I just started rewatching "Band Of Brothers" this week, and was reminded of this picture I took last winter, which was inspired by the experiences at the Seige Of Bastogne. I wanted to share it, in honor of the unbelievable fortitude and toughness of those men, and what they did.

I just acquired this Winchester P14. The bolt does not match the receiver, but that is not important to me, and overall I am happy with this rifle. I am now going down the very enjoyable rabbit hole of decoding it's history.

The volley sights are missing, so I presume it went through the Weedon refurb. I am not sure what else was involved with that.

It was then demilled and relegated to Drill Purpose. Presuming I am correct, I imagine this occurred sometime after the refurb, or else why go to the trouble of the refurb to begin with, but perhaps I underestimate the power of British military bureaucracy...

Happily, it was later resurrected, and fitted out with a Criterion barrel, which appears to be minty fresh. I do not know what those patched cuts are on the right side of the stock below the receiver, but I believe they might be part of the demilling procedure.

I read the production date can be found on the barrel, beneath the handguard, but I have not gotten that far yet.

I would be very happy to learn anything anyone can tell me about it.

Last picture is of this P14 with an Eddystone Model of 1917, for comparison.

I just picked this up on GB for 200 beans. It's pretty used up, and I knew that going in to it, but I felt that might free me up for a little creativity...