Random Cool Tricks

One of the Soldiers manuals in the military had a ton of that kind of stuff in it. Of course, we never got to see any in action on duty.

A few of us did do a ton of testing with all the interesting stuff in all the literature. The motorized wenching and lifting tricks all worked. The combat engineers and boy scouts have cool primitive tech books too.

Much of the improvised chemistry didn't do quite as advertised. Maybe product changes since the manual was started?

 

Mine hooks claws into my arm or leg
She ain't playing her!

 

Many of my favorite tools have tape on them to add grip and hold the occasional screw. Others have some factory knurling for grip, but I've found that some dried rubber cement works better, and can be applied where you need it. That grubby looking T20 bit happened to get some on it during a job, and it was like magic! Instant grip instead of slippery chrome. Wobbly sockets that
are too wobbly get the tape treatment. Bright colors also make them easier to find when dropped down inside a dash.

 

Solar on the road. Found here: http://oh8stn.org/blog/2019/04/11/event-support-portable-solar-power-strategy/

 

28ga shotgun shell with the primer removed makes a nice cleaning rod guide for the Enfield.

 

Washing machine drum burn barrel. Plenty of air flow, reduces paper to fine white ash overnight.

 

It's tough to fill a container like this with a small opening. You must get fluid in and air out at the same time. The solution is to use an elevated vent. I set it below the funnel on this pressure sprayer so I leave a little air space for compressed air. If you turn the straw back into the funnel it will stop filling the container once liquid fills the vent tube and the funnel starts to fill. Coleman does this on their new filter funnels. Either method speeds things up greatly and mostly eliminates over filling.

Using this one with brake cleaner I aim the vent tube away from me and it just spits a little as the last of the air reaches the bottom of the tube.

 

A retired NYPD officer taught me this trick. The Walgreen's Red Nose Day bands are tough and the perfect size for my wallet. It holds everything in, and makes it really tough to get in and out of the back pocket. I can hardly get it out without turning the pocket inside out. Just makes it a little tougher to lose to somebody with pocket picking skills.

 

I've had a time keeping all my dies organized, and this has been a space saving system that works. I just added a board with angled holes drilled into it, then inserted .270 Winchester brass into the holes. The turret plates rest comfortably on the brass cases, and the few with unique shell holders have them mounted on dog tag chain and slipped on before the turret plate is installed.

 

^^^^Amazing!!

 

My phone doesn't do close-ups well, but I can give a brief (?) description that will explain what the images show.

*****This information is for educational purposes only*****

This is a simple lock-out device that you might encounter. (designed simply to keep honest people honest and to lock water valves closed on abandoned homes.) They are much cheaper than padlocks and much harder to defeat with bolt cutters, especially in close quarters. It's a simple mechanism, with four spring loaded tabs snapping into a groove on a pin. The correct removal tool will depress the tabs and push the lock barrel off the pin. In a pinch, and if you're in a pinch you'll know it, you can use a .45 caliber brass case to depress the tabs and pull the lock barrel off. I used a .45LC case, but .45 ACP would work as well. Pound it in with a rock if you have no big pliers.
The beauty of this is that you can re-lock it before you leave the area and nobody will know you were there.

 

Now about the optical illusion picture you were going to post....meat?

 

I was sent two pics. It doesn’t do it justice. I will post anyway.

 

Hotel slow cooker.

 

I've been thinking about out-of-options survival firearms of necessity lately and wondered how many wrong ammo for the gun combinations I've seen. Some are obviously unsafe, like 9mm in a 7.62x25 Tokarev. I can tell you that the .356" bullet was instantly swaged by the bottleneck chamber and exited the .30 caliber bore. I wouldn't recommend it, and don't want anybody to try it again. I see lots of blown out cases from 9mm fired in .40 S&W, and .40 S&W in .45 ACP. They're held on the extractor just hard enough for an off-center firing pin strike. .32 S&W Long works well in a 7.62x28R Nagant revolver. .45 ACP and .455 Webley revolvers with cylinders cut for moon clips will fire most of the time without the moon clips, as long as the ammo is rear settled by elevating the muzzle before firing and then not pointing the muzzle downward again before you shoot. Easy on the old Webley's, since they can't tolerate a steady diet of full power .45 ACP.

.223/5.56 stops at the neck of a 7.62x39 chamber, and the bolt will more or less center the case as it goes into battery. I routinely hit a 20" wide target at 25 yards with this demo. It'll leave a mark!

Lots of run-of-the-mill rifle rounds can be fired in their wildcat cousins chamber, ending up with a newly fire-formed case that's correct for the chamber. (.22 Hornet to K-Hornet, .220 Swift to .220 Wotkyns-Wilson Arrow, and most of the Ackley Improved wildcats with their parent cartridges.) Then there's the ammo where the guy didn't have his glasses on, or just forgot what his rifle was chambered for. Stuff like .300 WinMag in .300 Weatherby Magnum, or my favorite, .300 Savage in .300 WinMag. It must've just been laying in the chamber, and was only even close to the bolt because it pushed it in. Most off center firing pin strike I've ever seen and blew the case out straight, but only on the side that wasn't laying on the chamber. The bullet wandered down the remaining freebore of the enormous chamber and luckily found a path through the barrel.

Why would anyone want to shoot a 7mm-08 in a .308, or a 9mm in a .40 S&W? Because it's all you have, and it's better than a rock at rock throwing distance. None of this nonsense is safe, which is all the more reason to stock up on the ammo you use now.

 

With modern engines being sealed up.tighter every year to reduce evaporative emissions, I've found that air trapped in the engine makes fast oil filling a bit annoying. Usually one BIG bubble forms in the funnel and spews oil all over the engine.

The fix is easy. Just pull out the dipstick to vent the crankcase air.
I pull them way up, so I can't forget to push them back down before starting the engine.

 

that is genius!!! I know you can make a grilled cheese sandwich with an iron but never thought to turn it over and put a pan on it.