Civilian Warfighter Network

"The following is an actual question given on a University of Washington
chemistry mid-term.

The answer by one student was so 'profound' that the professor shared it
with colleagues, via the Internet, which is, of course, why we now have
the pleasure of enjoying it as well :

Bonus Question: Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic
(absorbs heat)?

Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law
(gas cools when it expands and heats when it is compressed) or some
variant.

One student, however, wrote the following:

First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So we
need to know the rate at which souls are moving into Hell and the rate
at which they are leaving. I think that we can safely assume that once a
soul gets to Hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving.
As for how many souls are entering Hell, let's look at the different
religions that exist in the world today.

Most of these religions state that if you are not a member of their
religion, you will go to Hell. Since there is more than one of these
religions and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we
can project that all souls go to Hell. With birth and death rates as
they are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase
exponentially. Now, we look at the rate of change of the volume in Hell
because Boyle's Law states that in order for the temperature and
pressure in Hell to stay the same, the volume of Hell has to expand
proportionately as souls are added.

This gives two possibilities:

1. If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls
enter Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will increase
until all Hell breaks loose.

2. If Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in
Hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes
over.

So which is it?

If we accept the postulate given to me by Teresa during my Freshman year
that, 'It will be a cold day in Hell before I sleep with you,' and take
into account the fact that I slept with her last night, then number two
must be true, and thus I am sure that Hell is exothermic and has already
frozen over. The corollary of this theory is that since Hell has frozen
over, it follows that it is not accepting any more souls and is
therefore, extinct........leaving only Heaven, thereby proving the
existence of a divine being which explains why, last night, Teresa kept
shouting 'Oh my God.'

THIS STUDENT RECEIVED AN A+ "

Some drooling dimwit from KISSATA accused me of lying about
having done research about the various state defense forces. The utter
lack of mental discipline associated with a failure or refusal to obtain
proof is so typical of several regulars on the KISSATA forum.The
following blog has been neglected form most of the last year, however,
I think it clearly demonstrates I have made a study of state defense forces.

http://militiaandzombies.blogspot.com/

The aspect of the state defense force concept that is most troubling
to me is its gross under utilization. The membership is usually unpaid,
and the budgets are typically miserable. There is no doubt in my mind
that there is a giant and eager manpower pool of veterans and recruits
who desire to serve the community, the county and the state in a state
controlled militia. The conspiracy theorists will reject it as an agency of
government and many knee jerk so called "liberals" will see it as some
evil waiting to take away their abortion rights and cheap illegal alien
labor. Nuts. Veterans and volunteer recruits are far less likely to cave
into a tyranny than some sheep from San Francisco. As men under
oath they are far less likely to attack behaviors protected by the state and
federal constitutions, than some political hack seeking attention. The
contrast between rational and civil men willing to take up arms to defend
the people of their home state and the tin foil hat conspiracy theorists
is so great, that any comparison is likely to be anecdotal at best.

Seems some folks think I am an expert on militias. In a sense, yes. I have
made a study of the state defense forces that fall under the jurisdiction of
the respective state governments and am more than a little enthusiastic
about such organizations.Would like to see such organizations grow and
take on a larger role in providing for domestic defense in the absence of the
respective National Guards. As for the various "unorganized militia" organized
militias, I have very little personal exposure to such. I do support the KISSATA
style family and community defense concept. As I understand it, that is not
militia except in the sense of most everyone being part of the unorganized
militia as described in federal and many state laws.

As for the "Huratee" group, if they violated the law then they will reap the reward
for such behavior. If not, then we can hope the federal judicial system operates
the way the law requires.

For decades I have extolled the virtues of rear aperture sights for those with less than 20/20 binocular vision.
This link leads to an article that addresses this issue succinctly.

http://forums.gunsamerica.com/yaf_postst57_The-Envelope-Please-My-Best-Rifle-Sight-Award-Goes-To---.aspx

The Envelope Please!
My Best Rifle Sight Award Goes To...

by Ross Seyfried

Let's start this month with a question. It may not be the best writing form, but let's go for it.

Is there a way to correct your shooting vision without corrective lenses, without a scope, and with nothing more than a plain iron sight? And no, I'm not going to give you the answer right away.

We can begin by saying that any shot that can be made with any iron sight can be made more easily with a scope. But having said that, there are many times and applications when, for a variety of reasons, a “glass” sight is not what we want. There are kinds of hunts or places where “optical” sights are not legal, many muzzle loader seasons fit in this realm. At times we simply do not want the large “clutter” of a scope on top of our rifle. Optical sights, as good as they are, are by their very nature more fragile than “iron,” so at times for sheer ruggedness or as a backup if the scope fails, iron sights are better. Also, we may not want a scope for nostalgic reasons and last but not least there are many rifles that would be severely “damaged” if a scope were mounted on them. So, at the end of the day many, (including most military applications) turn to iron sights instead of scopes.

The most basic and common kind of sight, those on the barrels of a vast majority of rifles are “open” sights. They come in a wide variety of flavors: buck horn, square notch, “V” express sights and on and on. They are fine and wonderful things and have served riflemen well as long as there have been rifles. But they have two very distinct drawbacks. First they are very skill oriented. Open sights, regardless of opinion to the contrary, are difficult to master.

Second, they depend on good eye sight. Regrettably most, mine included, begin to lose open sights somewhere past 40 years of age. Also, many with less than perfect vision including those with corrective lenses have great difficulty hitting well with open sights. If you can not see the the sights on your rifle well, you cannot hit well with them either.

But have no fear! There is a “magical sight.” Yes, there is an iron sight with extreme precision, that is extremely fast and . . . .drum roll . . . one that corrects virtually any vision problem to perfection. And no, it is not some product of the space program, computerized lasers or witch doctors. It is a simple, round, hole!

Now before you damage your computer and toss out all marginal credibility I might have, let me explain the how it works. Better yet, you can test it for yourself. Of course those of you with perfect vision cannot appreciate this one facet of apertures, but hold tight, we will get to the rest of you in a minute. Take a piece of thin card board and poke a small hole in it with a sharp pencil or ball point pen. Then put the hole very close to your eye and look at some very fine print . . . and then out the window at a distant object. Yes, it is indeed almost magic. An eye surgeon friend told me that he can use a pin hole to demonstrate how good a person’s corrected vision can be, without any of the fancy optical tools. There are of course medical problems, cataracts, etc that the aperture cannot help, but the large majority of “fuzziness” both near and far is zapped away with a simple hole. My eyes see sights and read perfectly, until I put on my prescription lenses to correct my distance vision. Then the sights become very blurry. An aperture makes the sights crisp with my glasses and leaves my distance vision perfect as well.

The essence of a “peep” or aperture sight is nothing more or less than a round hole that serves as the rear sight on a rifle. The magic of an aperture sight does not end with the almost miraculous ability to allow the shooter to see well. The greatest challenge with normal open sights is a thing called sight alignment. That is, the front and rear sights must be in almost perfect alignment with each other and the target, or the shot goes astray. The eyes must focus well and the mind must concentrate on that all-important alignment, while the trigger finger releases the shot. There is a whole lot going on and much that can go wrong. This is partly why the optical sight is so perfect; we have reduced the “moving parts” by half. All you need to do is have the “cross-hairs” in the right place when the shot fires and you have a hit. Enter again the magic of the peep; it works the same way. When used properly your eye and mind do not consider the rear sight at all. You simply see the front sight and the target; put the front sight on his shoulder and the deer falls down.

Using the peep sight properly takes a little bit of practice and a whole lot of believing. If you are accustomed to using open sights, the peep goes against all of the rules you have hammered into your head. That is, instead of focusing on both front and rear sights, being sure all is perfect, you must ignore the back sight, completely disregard the “hole”. You simply have to believe all is okay, and it will be. There is a wonderful quality of the human eye; it automatically finds the center of a hole when you look through it. The aperture sight is also more or less parallax free. That is if you put the rifle on a solid rest, with the front sight on the target, you can move your eye around in the “hole” and the front sight does not move on the target. Also contrary to what your mind wants to believe, the hole need not be a tiny one. In fact, a very small hole in a hunting sight is a handicap.

A tiny hole, say .040” in diameter might be found on a target sight for use in bright sunlight, but something much larger works perfectly for a hunting sight. The original Lyman sights had a little folding flap inside the aperture. When up you had a relatively small hole, but when folded down you were looking through almost the entire aperture itself, through a hole more than 1/8-inch in diameter. Today we hear of “ghost ring” sights and these are simply large holes with a very thin ring of metal around the outside. In essence there is nothing in front of your eye, only the “ghost” You have a perfectly unimpeded view of the world, and if you are able to keep both eyes open, you retain both depth perception and the perception of the speed and direction of a moving target in a way not even a scope can equal. The largest practical apertures I known about were used by an old professional elephant hunter. He had ¼-inch diameter apertures fitted to the top levers on his pair of .577 double rifles and was able to make the ultra-precise brain shot very well and very fast.

A tiny hole, say .040” in diameter might be found on a target sight for use in bright sunlight, but something much larger works perfectly for a hunting sight. The original Lyman sights had a little folding flap inside the aperture. When up you had a relatively small hole, but when folded down you were looking through almost the entire aperture itself, through a hole more than 1/8-inch in diameter. Today we hear of “ghost ring” sights and these are simply large holes with a very thin ring of metal around the outside. In essence there is nothing in front of your eye, only the “ghost” You have a perfectly unimpeded view of the world, and if you are able to keep both eyes open, you retain both depth perception and the perception of the speed and direction of a moving target in a way not even a scope can equal. The largest practical apertures I known about were used by an old professional elephant hunter. He had ¼-inch diameter apertures fitted to the top levers on his pair of .577 double rifles and was able to make the ultra-precise brain shot very well and very fast.

Both can be folded down against the rifle’s grip when not in use. The Marbles sights are adjustable for windage and elevation, while the Lyman sights only move up and down. (Windage adjustment for sighting-in is accomplished by moving the front sight left or right.) Today the tang sights are essentially available for “classic” rifles and their modern reproductions, mainly lever actions and some single shots. In general, both original and reproduction rifles come with the necessary holes for mounting the tang sights. With some gunsmith or machinist alteration the sights can often be adapted to many other rifles.

In addition to tang sights, “receiver” sights were popular then and now. These as their name implies attach to the receiver, instead of behind it on the tang. These fit another wide variety of rifles, including many bolt actions. Lyman recreates their model 57 and 66 receiver sights that fit many lever actions, some modern bolt actions and muzzle loaders. The famous Williams “Guide” and “Foolproof” receiver peep sights are also available. They are currently made to fit a broad range of arms from Ruger 10-22s, many shotgun receivers, Remington 700s, Model 70s and all the way to classic Krags, Enfields and Springfields.

Beyond the classic sights, I have “peep” sights from two modern makers that are different than the norm. First there is the Talley peep sight, which fits onto a special modified base for their scope mounts. Like all other Talley products, these sights are wonderfully designed, almost invincible strong and precise. The Brockman Rifles sights begin with this theme and go a few steps beyond.

They have a “Generation III” ghost ring sight that fits Marlins and many others. This has wings on the sides, like a military front sight, to protect the sight and is adjustable for windage and elevation. Their next level of sight is designed to be an instant companion to a scope sighted rifle. The Brockman “Pop Up” peep is designed to work in conjunction with a Talley scope mounting system, but this sight becomes a permanent part of the base. It is adjustable for windage and elevation and is spring loaded. When you put the scope on the base the tube pushes the aperture down out of the way. When you take the scope off, the peep pops up into the zeroed and ready to hit position. These form the perfect, instant, backup for a broken scope, or are ready to go to work any time you do not want to use your rifle with the optical sight. They are available for Marlin lever actions and Winchester Model 70s on a “ready made” basis, and can be custom made for most other bolt action rifles. In addition to the rear aperture sight, Brockman has a very special and innovative front sight system designed specifically to use with aperture rear sights.
Brockman Rifles “floating dot” front sight

This is a really new, very old sight idea and I, for better or worse am responsible for it. One day, while having the grand privilege and delight to have free run of one of the finest arms collections on Earth, I discovered a sight. This was on a pretty little cased English rook rifle that was fitted with an original Lyman tang sight and that had a big, odd steel disk on top of the barrel just behind the normal front sight. When I rotated the cover away from the canister it uncovered a glass disk. The disk folded up into vertical position and revealed a red dot in its center. Yes, there is nothing new in the world, for this floating red dot was made in the 1880s. Before me was a red dot sight that floated in the open air, and offered one of the most amazing sight pictures I have ever encountered, when used in conjunction with the large Lyman aperture. This concept spawned the “new” Brockman front sight, that is essentially a floating colored dot; but now in a much more rugged and simple setting than the original British rook sight.

If we look back at the original catalogs from a century ago, we find them filled with testimonials for the “new” sights. It is interesting to note that many of the letters to Mr. Lyman began by saying that the new owners did not believe in, or like the new-fangled sights . . . until they tried them. Just like many of us today, the concept seemed too good to be true, but the doubt is replaced with words about record target scores, running bucks that folded or birds that were taken out of the sky. Today, most of us have to learn again what shooters used to know. The concept of peep sights is new to many shooters today, and in most ways seems too good to be true. My shooting evolved with a combination or conventionally sighted handguns and the most sophisticated scoped rifles, with little ground in between. I really did not fully comprehend the wonder of aperture sights until I fitted a tang sight to a humble little single shot .22 rifle. Its front sight is a ..060” wide blade. The rifle was a familiar friend and it shot very well with its original sight on the barrel, but that sight was getting fuzzy. One day I used electrical tape to temporarily mount a Lyman sight for a model 94 Winchester on the little friend. Zap,
A receiver sight on a model 94 saddle gun that I carry against poachers. This is a reliable combination in the gravest situations.

the aperture brought its original sights and targets at any distance into perfect focus. That was fun and interesting, but I remembered the instructions from the past, “take the barrel sight off the rifle.” Instead of removing the sight, I simply lowered it to its “20-yard” setting and adjusted the tang sight to a 100 yard zero. The top of the front sight was now far above the barrel sight and did not interfere with the sight picture with the “peep.” I had a big aperture hole, which made the sighting appear random, but low and behold, hitting 2-inch objects at 100 yards was easy. Then I tried a longer shot at a target over 150 yards away. It was a 12-inch square steel plate that would ring with monotony when I fired at it offhand! Okay, off to the milling machine to modify the base and make new holes. A few hours later the sight was a permanent part of the little rifle. (I also almost immediately fitted a Marbles to a larger target version rifle.) Bench rest groups, at 100 yards and more, are kind of spooky; the kind of groups I would expect with a good scope. All other magic aside, part of the precision of an aperture can be explained by the long sight radius it creates. Essentially, greater distance between front and rear sights increases the potential accuracy of the system. A tang sight usually increases the sight radius by 50% or more beyond the barrel sight. Along with precision came speed. A bouncing golf ball is in much danger at 20 yards also.

A peep sight is a very special thing that is the fastest and most effective non-optical sighting system available. If you are a dedicated iron sight user and have not tried a “peep,” you are missing something wonderful. Or, if you think you have to have a scope to hit well; I guess it is a little like betting against the guy in bib overalls, shooting a worn out Model 12 at a turkey shoot. Better keep your money in your pocket!

Sources:
http://www.talleymanufacturing.com
http://www.brockmansrifles.com
http://www.BuffaloArms.com
http://www.MidwayUSA.com
http://www.Cabelas.com

http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA512331&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf

Copy and paste this link. Requires a PDF file reader.

Lessons relearned, once again.