Taste of spring

It actually broke 70 degrees today. On the way home, the thermometer read 71 degrees. Forecasting nice for forseeable future. Went out in the garage and put the charger on the Vette and aired up the tires. Crawled under the mustang to check on where I left off in the fall. Dug out my range gear and got the truck all ready for later in week. Hopefully get the vette roadworthy tomorrow so I can pull it out and start work on the mustang again. Hope to get the floor pan welded in this weekend if I remember to get the tank for the welder. Once floor is welded in place, I can lay on it to pull the clutch pedal. I want to install bearings and bushings as well as install shaft for hydraulic conversion. Wiring harness should be shipped tomorrow. I wont need it for a while, but it will be one more piece in the puzzle. Three week until vacation. I want to get out and get some brass and dies for the Norwegian Krags. I want to try loading some rounds for them. Found a couple sites that have the load info for Krags. It is a lighter than normal charge. Curious to see how they load and shoot. I will stop by Red Ghost gunshop tomorrow and see if he has the supplies. Brass is probably a special order, but he should have the powder and maybe the bullets. If not, he usually gets a pretty good turn around. His prices aren't too bad. It is owned by a fellow club member, and I like to help out the little gun stores as well. He is a real nice guy. Very helpful and knowledgable.He shows up at all the meetings and helps out at alot of the shooting events. Hope everyone is enjoying the warm up and hope it lasts for the weekend.

Gun show revisited

Went back to the show today after researching some of the rifles I was interested in. The Swiss K31 was still there, but instead of lowering the price, he had raised the price overnight. The guy that had the one for $250 had done so as well. The one for $250 was gone before I left. I already own one, so I wasn't really interested in that one. The one for $500 that had good wood and finish is now $550. He did have fancy new price stickers on his guns, so he must have figured the new stickers raised the value of the gun : )  .  I will see if he gets more reasonable at the next show. Went back to my buddy's table where I acquired my Garrand years ago. He had a Swedish Mauser with a bayonet that looks brand new. Unfortunately, it was spoken for before I could claim it. I did however walk away with a nice pair of Norwegian Krags. I will also be checking out a krag-jorgeson he has when he gets it back in from his buddy. It is suppose to be pristine. They also have a nice danish krag with it's original bayonet I may pick up next time. The reloader has ammo for the Norwegian, I would have to check around for the 8mm for the  danish. Suppose to go over to the sellers house in a couple weeks to check out his collection. They were telling me about a show in Louisville Kentucky that is suppose to be twice the size of the Indy 1500. They said it coincides with the annual military memorabilia show. I was told they actually break theirs down in to different sections. They have military in one section , hunting in another, knives in their own. He says to allow more than one day as show is big enough not to be able to see all in one day.

Picked up a couple rifle cases while I was there as well. The weather is beautiful. It actually hit 62 today and suppose to stick around a while. May get to go to the range after work tomorrow. I am going to go out in a little bit and get the range bag cleaned and organized. Brought my K31 in to look at yesterday. Have to dig around and find the ammo for it. I haven't had it out in a while. Went to pick up the table for reloading, and the store was insane. I will drop by there during the week.

Armory gun show.

You can tell people are worried about new gun laws again. I had to park at the end of the parking lot and just about elbow the way through the crowd. One day, it would be nice if people could figure out that if you want to look at an item, move over and look at it. Don't stand in the middle of the isle and block both directions of the isle way. The only M1a available was a synthetic stock scout and a way overpriced supermatch. I am going to call the guy from the club and order the one I have been looking for. Bumped into my buddy there that I bought my Garrand from a couple years back. His buddy has a Norwegian Krag that looks to be in great shape. The reloader there has ammo for it as well. He is suppose to be getting a Krag-Jorgesson in a couple of weeks. It is one he use to own and traded a few years back. Says he has the original bayonet for it as well as some bandoleers of ammo and an old army belt that holds ammo. Suppose to be unmolested and in pristine condition. He also has an Enfield that I have been interested in for some time now. He has quite a collection of military memorabilia. He brought out some of his nazi lugers just for display. When he gets the Krag in, he is suppose to give me a call. He invited me over to check out his collection. Getting nice out already. Suppose to be in the fifties tomorrow. A couple more weeks and the spot shoots will start up again at the club. I saw one of the nicest K31 Swiss rifles I have ever seen at today's show. The wood was absolutely perfect. The bluing and metal was flawless. It looked brand new out of the box.He wants five hundred for it, which is real high for that particular type of rifle, but it is perfect in every way. May have to head out to the range tomorrow. Be nice to get some fresh air and sunshine for a change. May mess around with the Mustang for a while as well. Vacation is only four weeks away. Hope to get my floor welded in that week and get the hydraulic clutch installed. I found a new under the hood wiring loom for $150 that I ordered from e-bay. I was having intermittent problems with the old one. Hope to have it drivable in early spring.

Parts arrived

I finally managed to locate a kit for the Mustang to convert the clutch to hydraulic. I will have to fabricate a new bracket for the slave cylinder as the kit is part of a conversion to the more modern five speed transmission. Shouldn't be hard at all. The footprint of the six cylinder leaves the clutch fork out in the open. I should be able to bolt to the flywheel housing using the flywheel housing/ engine bolt holes to secure bracket to.

The kit is pretty flexible. It comes with two reservoirs. One that can mount on the master cylinder as shown in first picture. The second one mounts on firewall or other location, and has a hose and adapter for connecting to master cylinder. I will probably go with the one that mounts to the firewall as it will be easier to watch fluid level and add as needed. It will definitely make shifting easier and neaten up under the hood area. It will also correct a fitment issue. When I installed the new z-bar, I found that the aftermarket rack and pinion steering rubs on the z-bar. The previous owner had shimmed the z-bar bracket with a stack of washers under the two bolts. This creates an alignment issue with the z-bar. It would also radically increase the wear of the nylon bushings in z-bar ends. They recommend reinforcing the firewall. I will look into that when weather gets a little warmer. May be able to purchase firewall patch panel and weld it to the existing firewall that is in good shape so as to double the thickness and not make it look like a plate welded in there. It was hard to find kit. It was popular, but the company that made it went out of business several years ago. This wasn't their only product.They were just a vintage mustang parts company that assembled a bunch of components to make this kit. Would be nice if another vendor would pick up the slack and offer a similar kit. They would probably fair well with it. Can't wait for spring. Lucked out so far and missed all the white stuff. We keep getting rain, and the snow we get usually disappears quickly (thank god). I am not a winter person. Moved down here a few years ago from Northwest Indiana. Don't miss the weather up there at all. Miss family and friends, but not the weather or traffic. Much more peaceful down here.

What was that????

That had to be the WORST half time show I have ever seen. Electric neon suits...The only brief highlight was Slash showing up, until vocals tried to accompany. At least Green Bay won. Would have been even better had one of my squares brought in a little money. Maybe next year they could get AC/DC or Nickelback. Someone who can perform and people might actually want to hear. All the negative feedback the Who got last year, this years performance makes that one look phenomenal.

Club meeting

Had a great club meet this month. Every year, when you pay dues, you receive raffle tickets where you can win one of ten guns to be given away in the February meeting. I didn't win, but one of my buddies from work won a nice AR style 22. He has been talking about buying the exact gun that he won . It is nice to know one of the winners for  a change. He has a couple kids that he does a lot with, so this will be something else they can do as a family. It really is a nice setup. I just keep the tickets for the guns, but you can also sell them to recoup the money so membership would be free. It's only $120 a year, which is extremely reasonable for all that is included. Last month, I won a couple hundred on a cash drawing, so my dues were already covered. I also met a member of the club who has a FFL license and offers amazing deals to club members. I had him price the M1A I want and he can get it a lot cheaper than I have been quoted anywhere else. I am now looking at the super match. It has an extremely comfortable stock along with alot of other accouterments. I have the papers filled out to get my own C&R license, which will be nice for getting guns shipped right to the house.All that is left to do is get the signature of the local LEO on it before mailing it off.  That will help with the collectible military rifles. But, it will be nice to have a FFL contact for new guns. He says rifles usually take only three days for shipping. Hand guns are overnight. Hope to get my office set up for reloading this week. I have the equipment, just need to get it organized.

So far so good

Hopefully the weather holds here. All we have here so far is rain. The ice is to the north and south. Been very fortunate this year, and I hope it continues. Hope everyone is fairing alright. Stay warm and safe.