Vandal With a Handle

I am a pushover for this kind of stuff. I would guess that others will spend some time looking over the skills of the past. I learned several ways to prepare kraut and some of the details of digging a well by hand and how to build a cistern and build a springhouse and make cheese and soap and ...

You may have trouble getting away but you will have a great time while you're there.

This link takes you to the Overlawyered.com website where you will learn that a local health department (in Massachusetts. We might have guessed.)has regulated potluck suppers and rendered them illegal unless a licensed food handling person is present. It costs $145 to get licensed and that relieves the Parent-Teacher Organization which was going to have a potluck of any liability if any of that broccoli casserole gave anybody the collywobbles. The case has been abundantly made elsewhere that licensing is not for the public in most cases. It is for the government. It makes money. It stands as an eternal monument that Something Has Been Done. Now the PTO will have to have clandestine meetings, "Joe sent me" to get in, and all that goes with the circumvention of stupid regulatory activity. Else, they will have to forego one of the last vestiges of neighborliness, the potluck supper. Pretty sad.

Looks like great minds run together. Mr. Dutoit has acquired a Mosin Nagant and has an interesting post about his Model 44 and the Russian rifle in general.

Mr. Sensing has given us who do not frequent places of public worship a very able Easter sermon with the added benefit of a good Churchill story I had not heard before. One of his commentators also mentioned a classic Easter homily, that of John Chrysostom, pastor of Constantinople, which for simplicity, clarity and focus is certainly a good one to read today. It is also quite brief and a corrective example for the long-winded.

Learned via Mr. Dutoit this morning about the recovery of some of the P-38 Lightning aircraft flown by Antoine de Saint-Exupery at the end of WWII. He is the author of Le Petit Prince which is said to be the third most-read book in the world. I have missed reading it so far. Perhaps soon. The first two are: The Bible, first, and then according to source, either the Quran or Das Kapital. Maybe I didn't read it because I didn't take French. Maybe just one of the handicaps imparted by a West Virginia public school education. Or maybe all of us miss some things as we go through life. In any event I did some further research here and here and learned more about him. His full name is Antoine-Marie-Roger de Saint-Exupery. He was one of the rare souls who learned aviation in the early Twentieth Century by "guess and by gosh" and lived for a while to talk about it. A quote:
'If you want to build a ship, don't drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea."
I also found it interesting that it was thought that a contributing factor to his fatal crash might have been that he was 44 years old at the time and might not have been up to the task of flying the difficult P-38. 44 and too old. Good Grief.

For about $100 now you can be the owner of a piece of history and a fine utilitarian firearm, the Russian Mosin Nagant model 91/30. That means a .30 caliber rifle adopted by the Russian army in 1891. Yes, I said 18. In over 100 years they should have the bugs worked out by now. There are pictures and some technical information here and here. Nobody said it was pretty or finely finished. It is, however durable and reliable. The rifle is bolt action, one of the many clones of the much-admired Mauser made at the time. (The U. S. Springfield 1903 is, of course, another). The Russians, as the story goes, arsenal rebuilt and mothballed a great many of the rifles left in inventory after WWII in a worked-out salt mine where constant temperature and low humidity preserved them in excellent condition all these years. The rifles come with a full complement of accessories. Don't think that the low price means you don't get all the good stuff. Each rifle has a sling, belt cartridge pouch, bayonet and one of the neat little two-compartment metal bottles for gun oil and cleaning solvent. A cleaning rod is carried under the rifle barrel.

I have checked the rifle out at the Vandal Spread and I and my party had a great time with it. It fires the substantial 7.62x 54R cartridge which is plentiful and inexpensive. It has about the same ballistics as the 30-06. There just isn't much of a down side to this rifle if you are willing to leave it alone and enjoy it as it is. I have not bought a Mauser because the 8mm ammo is not as common, more expensive, and available commercially only in a single bullet weight. Russian comes in several bullet types and weights (up to 200 grains!)and all of it is reasonably priced. I think the Russian is a better deal, although the Mauser is a fine rifle.

A note about bayonets. I have no military experience and have never had a bayonet for a rifle. I installed the bayonet and surveyed the combination over six feet long and I felt a new appreciation for the psychological effect of long shiny steel. It's impressive. Chilling, as a matter of fact.

There are other versions available, the 38 and 44 carbines and the sniper model featured in the film, "Enemy at the Gates". All are about the same price (except the sniper model which is more) and are rugged, simple firearms that will get you up to your elbows in the shooting experience. Lots of people spend more money than that on one night of entertainment. This rifle can be fun the rest of your life.