Found: Ammo

As the ammo shortage continues, I keep checking the stores. Specifically, I've been watching for self defense ammo to return. I have been threatening to switch to a different type, as it seems Hydrashocks aren't appearing for awhile.


Stopping in a large local sporting goods store yesterday, I saw that 5 boxes of 40 S&W Winchester SXT in 165 gr. had appeared. At $19.99/box, I bought them all. Since I carry my Glock 23 so often for defense, these will work fine. (I'm down to a box and a half of Hydrashocks.) I will run one box through my gun to ensure they work, and use the rest for carry. That will last me awhile longer.

I don't hear about many people carrying this round, but for $20/box in today's market, I'm willing to go with it. Besides, I have confidence in just about any modern self defense load as long as I know it runs through the gun. Something is better than nothing, and I'd rather carry a fresh magazine of a round no one is particularly excited about than a magazine full of really old, tarnished, dinged up rounds of a more popular variety.


While no Hydrashock is around in 40, 6 boxes of 147gr. Hydrashock 9mm appeared, so I took all those off my shelf for my Glock 17.


I also picked up 300 rounds of Winchester White Box in 9mm, as well as the last 6 boxes of American Eagle 40 ammo- 3 boxes of 180 grain, 3 boxes of 155 grain.

Looking at the receipt from the last time I bought ammo, I see that the Winchester White Box has risen $3/box in less than 2 months. Wow.

I also saw that another large sporting goods store, the one I frequent most for ammo, is going out of business. I was quite saddened and was instantly reminded of our country's current situation. Of course, the shelves were completely bare of ammunition. They do have some holsters I have my eye on, but they are only 10% off right now, I'll have to wait and see if they're around when they drop the close-out prices even more.


For now, I was glad to find 220 rounds of self defense ammo, and another 600 rounds of target ammo. Though, my wallet really ached when I put it back in my pocket.

The Logic of Instruction

Stuff like this kills me. I bought a Shopvac for my little dryer vent problem at my new house.

I get the shopvac out, pop the wheels on, and I notice that the box says I need to install the wheels per the included instructions.



But there are no instructions......



Oh, the manual must be in the actual vacuum tank. I take off the top lid of the Shopvac to find instructions and 4 screws. Here's the instruction manual:

Okay, so step one is instructions on how to open the vacuum tank. Problem being: the instructions that contain step one are inside the tank that they are assuming you don't know how to open!

I love this stuff!

Congrads! You're a Homeowner! PS- your dryer is broken.

Not sure what I paid my home inspector for right now. A couple days into being excited about my first home (which is fairly move-in ready), I noticed that the exhaust vent had become disconnected from where it fed out of the house. No big deal. This looks like a job for H.I.T.

While looking it over, I noticed it looked wet next to my dryer. I couldn't really see, as it was dark, so I grabbed a flashlight. That's when I found that the tubing leading from the dryer exhaust had been torn, and the dyer had been spewing hot, wet dyer lint all over behind the washer, dyer, and into the storage area below our steps.

How long it has been doing this, I do not know. I pull out the dyer, begin to look at things, and realize that though the vent is torn, all the tubing is still completely clogged with lint as well. Not to mention the dang this is set up with several sharp turns = fire hazard.

Just found a great excuse to buy a Shopvac.

What slays me is that just before closing, we asked the sellers to install a radon mitigation system. The system was put in just adjacent to the dryer. So either the home inspector missed the problem, or whoever installed the mitigation system didn't bother to bring it up, or both. Nice.

As I went about rectifying the situation, I vacuumed out the tubing and piping that vents the dryer. A couple pipes were hard to get at to see, so I took pictures to check the progress. In that process, I found my inner endoscopy nurse. These look a little bit like images from the Tin Man's last colonoscopy.

Everything looks fine Mr. Tin Man. Just a few small polyps. That's normal for your age. Some new aluminum foil flexible tubing, some aluminum tape, a few clamps, and good vacuuming, and you're on your way.......

Now That's Handy......

Hmmmmm......wonder if I can get one of those installed.........

Where Have Thy Been?

Once again, its been awhile between blogs. Where have I been?

I bought a house.

'Nuff said.

Range Report: Mossberg 835

Finally got my Mossberg 835 out to shoot for the first time. We had to head down to Iowa for our first bridal shower (first of 4). Fortunately, I was expected only to make an appearance and say hi, then my fiance's uncle, cousin, brother, and I went clay pigeon shooting.

The Mossberg functioned flawlessly. I had never shot trap before, but caught on quickly. I missed the first clay, then hit most after that. I did discover that the gun has a plug in it, and I was limited to 3 shells at a time.

Of course, to ruin the day, one of our party had his brand new Fausti 20 gauge over-under that he had just won. $1400 gun he just won....I never win stuff like that. Now that was a fun gun to shoot.

Anyway, my Mossberg worked, which I was happy about. Like many Mossbergs the pump was a bit "loose"- can anyone out there help me out with some suggestions?