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VOLUME 97-----------JULY 2010

SHOOTIN', HUNTIN', AND RELOADIN'

WITH THE OL' MISSOURI HILLBILLY

July 4, 2010

Happy Independence Day!!!!

Our thoughts and prayers go out to our fighting men and women who put themselves in harm's way as they continue each day to protect our independence as declared in writing, some 234 years ago!

Today also marks the 88th anniversary of Dad's birth on July 4, 1922.  Heart disease took Dad from us in 1974 at the age of 52.  As we reflect upon his Independence Day birthdate and the memories his short life left us, we must always remain thankful for our country and its freedoms.  Despite its shortcomings, (and some of the idiots we've elected to try and run it) I can't think of a place I'd rather live than right here in the good ol' USA!

Things have been pretty quiet here at the ranch in recent weeks.  A cool, wet spring has kept us doing plenty of yard work, and Ann has beautified the surroundings with her flowers and decorative plantings.

We get into full swing with another Hunter Education class at the Elks Lodge this week.  We have 13 students who will complete the entire class and a 14th will join us on Saturday for the live fire at the trap range.  Our 14th is a girl who didn't shoot last month because of a broken arm.

The rainy weather has kept us indoors a lot, so I did use some of that time to work on my Reloading CD.  For those who haven't traveled to the Reloadin' Stuff page, there's a link to some narrated slides that provide a small sampling of the CD's contents.  It's just an ol' Hillbilly's attempt to explain the process of reloading metallic ammunition, a hobby that I've enjoyed for many years.

If you want to take a look, you'll probably need to view the slides with Microsoft Internet Explorer, as most other browsers won't play them properly.

I've been asked to do a reloading clinic at Center Target Sports in Post Falls, Idaho on July 15th, and I decided this would be a good time to update and improve the CD.

Center Target has been holding a free clinic each month covering topics such as, competitive pistol shooting, AR rifles, concealed carry methods, etc.  I've done a couple of reloading seminars for them, over the past couple of years and the high price of ammo has generated even more interest in the process.

The "Reloadin' With The Ol' Missouri Hillbilly" CD is a Powerpoint slide show explaining the reloading process.  In addition to updating the slides and re-recording the narrative, I imbedded the sound files instead of linking them to the slides.  In previous versions, if the user got the sound files in a different folder than the slide show, the links were lost and the narration wouldn't play.

Anyway, the new slide show will be used as part of the reloading clinic at Center Target.  For more information and the number to call to reserve a spot on July 15th, go to www.centertargetsports.com.

I finally shot the Smith & Wesson Model 1911 that I've had for several months!  (don't faint)  As expected, it went 'boom' most every time I pulled the trigger.  I only shot 18 rounds through it, but did have one failure to feed.  The round only entered the chamber about half way, and stuck.  A slight pull and release of the slide chambered the round and the rest of the magazine fired without a problem.

With this limited exposure, I found that I could hold into a 2 or 3 inch group from a sandbag rest at 10 yards, but couldn't even get on the paper from 25 yards.  I'm not a particularly good shot with a handgun anyway, but will need some more experience with this one, to really see what it (and I) can do.  Eighteen rounds of only one brand of ammo does not a test make, of either the shooter or the firearm.

   

Here are the two 10 yard targets with six shots each.  (The little green circled hole on the left target is a .22 bullet from the Kit Gun)

I don't remember ever firing a .45 ACP before this one.  I guess I was expecting more recoil than I experienced, but the gun really wasn't unpleasant to shoot.  It may be that the recoil sequence is just different, but I found the .45 to be as comfortable as Ann's 9mm Glock.

I contrast this with the little Walther PPK .380 ACP in the safe.  The .380 is considered a pretty anemic round in self defense circles, but the Walther has a snap to the recoil that, combined with the shape of the grip, hurts my stubby fingered hand when I shoot it!

I also fired another half box of ammo through the Smith & Wesson 'Kit Gun' in .22 LR that was reported on last month.  This time I was only trying to adjust the sights to print the shots where I was looking.  The rear sight is adjustable for both windage and elevation, via adjusting screws in the right side and top.

I needed to move the point of impact up and to the right to make the gun shoot where I was looking.  I'm going to say here that the adjustments were 'counter-intuitive' for me.  That's my excuse for why I began by turning both screws the opposite way that I should have.  Nothing a brief perusal of the owner's manual couldn't fix though.  Fortunately, the screw adjustments have detents, and I counted the 'clicks' as I moved the sights the first time, so it was no big deal to get back to where I had started.

I was shooting from the same sandbag rest at 10 yards with the little revolver, and after a couple of series of adjustments got the point of impact in the general area where the sights were looking for me.

By this time the evening sun was beginning to shine in my face, so we'll continue the work with both guns on another day.

After I cleaned the guns this morning, I remembered that I had speculated about the trigger pull on the 'Kit Gun' last month, so decided to see what it was really doing.  I felt that the single action pull would run 4 to 5 pounds, but the Lyman digital gauge says it's only 3 pounds, 4 ounces ± an ounce.

I think the manufacturers have finally begun listening to the consumers instead of the lawyers, as the trigger pulls have gotten somewhat better from the factories in recent years.

Ann, Jennifer, Rick, and I all entered a number of special drawings for limited tags back in June.  We applied for various moose, elk, and extra deer permits.  The application process was changed substantially this year.  I'll not try to explain it in detail, as it became much more complicated.  The upshot is, they broke the drawings into several more separate entities, so we had to pay more $6.25 application fees to enter for the all the species we wanted!

Jennifer was the only successful one in the drawings, and this was for an antlerless deer in a special unit created to attempt to reduce the deer population in the area where they live.  This is not an 'extra' deer, but allows for shooting a doe during certain days if she wants.  If she does elect to shoot a doe, she can't then shoot a buck too.

Since deer habitually come into their back yard, it shouldn't be too hard to fill the tag if she chooses.  One catch!  Rick's house is in a 'firearm restricted zone' so they can't use a muzzle loader or modern rifle.  Either traditional archery equipment or a crossbow are the legal methods of take.  The crossbow regulation is new.  Crossbows can be used in firearm restricted areas, but they are considered illegal for big game anywhere else.  Only longbows, recurves, or compound bows are considered legal archery equipment anywhere else in the state.

A new crossbow is on Rick and Jennifer's shopping list and should be purchased soon!

This month's hillbilly wisdom was gleaned from a recent story in Parade Magazine about Willie Nelson.  This quote was Willie's response to one of the writer's questions.

"Three Chords and the Truth - That's What A Country Song Is."

Well, It's time to shut down here, So . . . .

'Til next time, Keep 'em shootin' straight, shoot 'em often, and above all, BE SAFE!!!!!

THE OL' HILLBILLY
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