•Pops pulled out his rifle the other day. His dad gave it to him new in 1942, when he was a kid. It's a Winchester pump 22LR with a tube magazine. Pops said he hadn't used it in 50 years, and that he poured oil down the barrel after the last time he fired it. He kept the bolt separate from the rifle all those years, locked away in a box in his bathroom.
I got my cleaning kit out and set to work. The rifle looked 69 years old. No, it looked older. The metal had neither bluing nor shine - it was brown and pitted, but not actually rusted. It looked like an old cowboy gun you'd see hanging on a wall in a Western bar. I dropped the bolt in a bowl of Simple Green and then scrubbed it with a toothbrush. Then I squirted Break Free down the barrel and ran a bore brush up and down it a dozen times. Then I ran two patches thru the barrel a dozen times, finishing with single swipe with a well-oiled patch. When I looked down that barrel I was surprised to see that it looked brand new - smooth, silver, with perfect rifling. How could the barrel be in perfect shape when the outside of the gun was so pitted and weathered? Hell if I know. Last thing I did was dry off the bolt, cover it in oil, then lightly oil the entire rifle inside and out.
I have no doubt that the old Winchester will fire perfectly. We'll find out the next time we head up to LittleFoot.
•So, the military now offers a new kind of lightweight combat ration called a First Strike Ration, and these FSRs contain shelf-stable sandwiches that resemble hot pockets. Word is that these sandwiches use the same wheat bread found in MREs, and are filled with diced Slim Jims. Not very good, but edible nonetheless. Personally, I love this shit. To me, a shelf-stable sandwich is pure science fiction, and that's why I'm here, to see science fiction actually happen. But I can't promote these FSR sandwiches in good faith. After having read ROBES by Penny Kelly, I believe that that kind of synthetic, processed food is poison to the human body. Still, if you try one, let me know how it is. Inquiring minds would like to know :-)
I got my cleaning kit out and set to work. The rifle looked 69 years old. No, it looked older. The metal had neither bluing nor shine - it was brown and pitted, but not actually rusted. It looked like an old cowboy gun you'd see hanging on a wall in a Western bar. I dropped the bolt in a bowl of Simple Green and then scrubbed it with a toothbrush. Then I squirted Break Free down the barrel and ran a bore brush up and down it a dozen times. Then I ran two patches thru the barrel a dozen times, finishing with single swipe with a well-oiled patch. When I looked down that barrel I was surprised to see that it looked brand new - smooth, silver, with perfect rifling. How could the barrel be in perfect shape when the outside of the gun was so pitted and weathered? Hell if I know. Last thing I did was dry off the bolt, cover it in oil, then lightly oil the entire rifle inside and out.
I have no doubt that the old Winchester will fire perfectly. We'll find out the next time we head up to LittleFoot.
•So, the military now offers a new kind of lightweight combat ration called a First Strike Ration, and these FSRs contain shelf-stable sandwiches that resemble hot pockets. Word is that these sandwiches use the same wheat bread found in MREs, and are filled with diced Slim Jims. Not very good, but edible nonetheless. Personally, I love this shit. To me, a shelf-stable sandwich is pure science fiction, and that's why I'm here, to see science fiction actually happen. But I can't promote these FSR sandwiches in good faith. After having read ROBES by Penny Kelly, I believe that that kind of synthetic, processed food is poison to the human body. Still, if you try one, let me know how it is. Inquiring minds would like to know :-)
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