Fairweather

http://www.ruger-firearms.com/Firearms/FAProdView?model=1835&return=Y Yes, the Mini 14 (Ruger mfg.) uses the same round. Ruger also makes a version in the 7.62x39mm called the "Mini 30". They are strictly semi-automatic. They'll cost you about $400-$500. I don't know if a fully automatic version was ever created, but it would (should!) be illegal for the general public. You can get pre-ban magazines that hold 30 rounds, but what's the point?? They come with 5 round magazines. As for "just blasting the hell out of something", you would be amazed at the ineffectiveness of your typical thug with a weapon of this type. Holes everywhere!...but not likely on target. A calm, motivated police/marine sniper with good location and a bolt-gun would make quick work of an idiot like this.... and dozens of his friends too.

The .223 (aka 5.56mm) used in the "M-16" is not legal for hunting in this state. The rules, last time I checked, required minimum .24cal and at least 900ft/lbs of energy at the muzzle. While the .223 generates over 1200 ft/lbs, it falls short in the diameter dept. Ironically, some less powerful cartridges are legal such as the .44magnum. The AK-47 fires the Soviet 7.62x39mm and is legal to hunt with here, although I don't think it is currently a very popular cartridge. I believe the reason the US adopted the .223, despite its inferior knock-down power, is its range, as Cavey pointed out, and the fact that a soldier/platoon can carry more ammo into the field due to the smaller cartridge size. The AKs' were basically built as field-grade weapons and the machined parts were built to some pretty loose tolerances so they would not be as suseptible to natural elements. The M-16 was built to much finer tolerances and is therefore more prone to jamming when not cleaned/handled properly, or when inferior ammo is used. FYI, a bolt-action rifle (like most hunters use) is always a superior weapon for long range shooting. The solid lock-up does not lend itself to small wobbles (as the bullet leaves the muzzle) and gas-operation inconsistencies present in most semi-autos. The only popular rifle cartridge that crosses the Hunter-Military line currently is the Winchester .308, also known as the 7.62x54mm NATO. Now ya' know....

And do you recall how you treated returning American soldiers? I was young then, but I remember....and you should be ashamed. Many would disagree with that boast.

There remain plenty of 'multi-day hikes' for your heart's content even if this area were to stay in its current 'easily accessible' state. So anyone who hikes the current 8 miles (16 r.t.!) to get to DMG is likely "lazy and thoughtless"?? The beautiful high country area there is not currently trashed, so what makes you think you have the right to address and enforce a make-believe problem by making weekend access impossible? Perhaps more than a bit of pretentiousness (your words) from your side! Not everyone can take the time off work "for a several day hike" like you and Dave. You're not an "ALPS" or "MIDForc" zealot by any chance are you? Frankly, when the CCC road closes next year and I am forced to mountain bike 8 miles to the trailhead.....I might just keep riding up the DMG trail for a few more miles, or as far as is possible.

Took the wife and kids to Grand Park today. The trail was muddy in places, the bees were pissed off, Lake Elanor was a moderately cold swim, and there was lots of new snow up on Rainier!

Mount Adams - Victory Ridge Grade IV - FA by Fred Beckey and Don Gordon; July 7, 1962. ( The week I was born! ) Has this one been repeated ? More importantly, would anyone want to?

Pope and AlpineK: I doubt your perception of life up there will jibe with reality. But, anyhow..... See ya! (Quitting is sooo un-American!)

So do you support the production and consumption of GM foods? If not, as I suspect, please explain. Mistakes are sure to be made along the way but, as with GM farming, the benefits outweigh the risks IMHO.

I'm sorry, but the allergic kid needs to find another school to attend. How many accommodations shall the many make for the one? This aint' ADA, this is sheer lunacy. Sounds like it's time for new school board elections!

Paul Hamm should quietly take his gold medal over to his South Korean competitor's quarters and present it to him in exchange for the bronze. Paul Hamm did not win. His gold medal will always be stamped with an asterisk and is now only worth it's spot-price. He should do the honorable thing and present it to its rightful owner.

So who would be your first, next choice for president? McCain? Nader? Brown? Liebermann? Dean? Surely Kerry isn't your first choice? I will be honest and state that there are probably several Republicans I would prefer to Bush.....But they aint' running! BTW, Cj, Governors typically don't write legislation.

It's not a mosque anymore. It's fucking armory. Bush is starting to look a lot more like LBJ!

Pope, Why don't you just be honest with yourself and say, "John Kerry will probably be a miserable, indecisive, waffling excuse for a leader who has no real plan other than his own self-gratification, passed no legislation of note during his 20 year senate tenure, and once sold out his fellow soldiers still fighting in Vietnam before a senate committee..... and the only reason I'm still voting for him is that I hate George W Bush"?

This is just in the September primaries to prevent "crossover voting"... where voters sometimes cast a ballot for a weaker candidate from the opposite party in the hopes that their true candidate will have an easier contest in the general election. This new process was pushed by both parties, and imposed by a federal court. One is still free to vote for the candidate, regardless of party, in the November general election. The only real problem with this new system is that the taxpayers foot the bill, whereas it seems to me that the parties themselves should.

This (inaccurate)lesson about brain function brought to you by....."Stonehead".

Wow! You're pretty sharp AK. I guess I just missed your point...or you missed mine. Dole spent several months in a hospital recovering from his wounds suffered at Anzio. You can take it from there.....

Great book! I'm reading it right now. I discovered the origin of the word "amok", and that Darwin had some of his ideas handed to him on a silver platter.

Holy shit! Bob Dole has joined the debate! I've never know this guy to be a partisan extreme.... http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5771731/

Future engineers? May God help us all!

...Then, I'm gunna take some big ol' Polar Bears down to South Georgia Island to clean up those messy bird-wannabies! (The ones I didn't capture and transplant to the arctic, that is!) They can also feed on the occasional Brit or Aussie capsized yachtsman that comes along. Hehe. This will be a staging area for my final Polar Bear assault on the Antarctic mainland a few years from now. Those cute little Harp Seals back up north (and the bleeding heart humans who love them) will be thankin' me big time too! ...and who says that the south pole isn't really the top of the world!?

That's a classic, man!

Some forms of environmentalism have left the realm of science and are now religion. What's your religion, Whirl?

Just a thought: If a race of technologically superior, space-faring aliens arrived here on earth would they have a right to trade with us their technical know-how for, say....certain mining rights? Would their missionaries be right to set up churches and preach their (what would seem) obviously superior beliefs ? Would our citizens be free to worship therein? Would certain elements of the human race be justified in their efforts toward armed resistance? Would our way of life change forever? The answer to all these questions is yes.

My science project: I'm going to take a ship to Antarctica, fill its hold with mating pairs of Penguins, then sail off north to Greenland, Baffin, Norway, Russian Arctic.... I just wanna see what happens after a few years! Now that would be a real Penguin conspiracy.