Grain

I find it mildly amusing, looking at the ammunition choices for various rifle and handgun cartridges, how many bullet weights are available for most, then checking what's available for the .30 Carbine: 110 grain, 110 grain, 110 grain, 110 grain, 110 grain, 110 grain, 110 grain, 110 grain, 110 grain, 110 grain, 110 grain, 110 grain, 110 grain, 110 grain, 110 grain, 110 grain... Oh! There's a load with 100 grain bullets!

The reason being that the short-stroke action of the M1 Carbine only works reliably for a very narrow range of bullet weights and muzzle velocities.

Hard Water

Wow. Because of the drought the local water is very hard lately. I've been running extra regeneration cycles on my water softener, but after rinsing a car, watering some saplings, washing two loads of clothes and a load of dishes, tonight's shower was like washing in liquid limestone.