Date Posted: 01/04/2005 9:46 AM


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I went to the range yesterday to try to get a target or two to send to the postal match. I could have picked a better day, freezing rain and cold. It was about 28 degrees. my hands got pretty numb loading the 99 Savage and the groups showed it, so I gave that up and tried the new little Puma in .357 Mag. Same problem with the loading and numb fingers but had a bit of fun with it. I had some cast 150 RN's and some 158 SWC's in 357 that were loaded for pistol use and some flush mounted WC's in .38 Spl. The trigger on the 92 seemed very nice and offhand it was doing just fine. (shooting offhand because the benchs and seats at the range are concrete, not the nicest thing to sit on when it's got a fine coating of ice) I was keeping my shots in about 6" at 50 yards. I found you could single load the wad cutters in the open action, they were 2 grains or so of bullseye, when they went off they made a pop out of the 20" barrel and then a smack a second later when they hit the berm. once I got the sights up all the way I was popping bits of clay pigeon of the berm nine out of ten times.

The weather is supposed to get worse today with more ice and snow, so when I get off the computer I'm going to the basement to do some loading and maybe some casting before the power goes off.

OK Ed, what time did the power fail, and how many boolits did you have by then?

Colder that H**l here in Boise today. Be a while before I get to break out the pot and make a few new boolits.

Well ED I'm on the other side of the state from you and all we have received so far is cold rain no snow so far. Pretty miserable to be out there in this stuff so I think I'll just do a little castin myself and reloadin. I've been wantin one of those .357 lever actions myself. Should be a sweet handlin rifle . Will the Puma handle .38 specials as well? 8mmshooter/Everett

Didn't loose power yet. Got about a half inch of ice on everything and it's snowing now. Got a my cases for the .303 savage loaded, about 100 8x56R's, and 50 45/70's. Cast acouple of hundred bullets. Cleaned off my bench a little. (it's a hopeless cause)

The Puma 92 takes 38 Spl.'s just fine except for flush seated wad cutters, those you have to load singlely. Looks like another day of catching up on stuff around here. My wife works down in Liberty and she stayed down there last night, most likely tonight too. Got a big pot of beans with a hambone on the stove, so I won't starve anyways.

Ice and snow still here. I paper patched a bunch of .45 bullets last night and will load some 45/70 shells today. This snow is really getting a lot of jobs done around here. I got the shopvac out and got all the spent primers that missed the catch tray, and a bunch of other stuff vaccumed up in the loading area. I have had the thumbler going steady the last two days. I'm sizing and priming brass and putting it up so it's all set to go, and making little labels to put on everything so I can read it as opposed to my hand written labels. A bunch of people have lost power around here, but I'm still doing OK.

More ice here in NW Missouri. If this keeps up I will have most of my stuff loaded. I cast up all the lead I have in the basement. The shed when I store my ingots has an inch of ice all over it and a long walk on the ice bringing it back, so I guess it will stay there until this stuff melts. I wish I had a digital camera, my loading area hasn't been this neat since I built it. It's really nice being retired, I watch all those people sliding around trying to get to work, I got out enough to get the mail and throw some salt on the steps and I'm done for the day!

That ain't cold A pair of thin wool gloves do wonder in cold temps, and don't interfere with shooting. It's when it gets down or below zero, and there's a breeze that shooting at the range is no fun.

I guess I'm just not used to the cold like you Alaskans. Best time in my life was 8 years in a row that I spent winters in Florida or south of the equator. The cold this winter hasn't been bad, it's been the ice. I live on a hill and it make getting around less than good. But I am getting caught up around the house. If this keeps up maybe our drought will be broken.

Had a little break in the weather here Friday, most of the ice is gone and and it got into the 40's. Went and tried the mauser pistil with the new springs from wolff spring. It works like it just came from the factory, it wouldn't come back to complete battery about 30 percent of the time before the spring change.

Tried some paper patched bullets in the 45-70. Getting 10 shot groups about 1.75" at 50 yards with reloader 7. and 1.5" 2400. Also got some bigger groups with some other combos.

The 92 Win clone in 357 got some loads made for rifle only shooting. Still as tame as a kitten and very accurate. Can't wait for some nicer weather to wring some more out of these loads.

Wind was about 40mph last night and we are back to the cold weather again. Maybe next week I will be able to get to the range again.

Been pretty changable weather here. Not really cold, but a bit of inversion, so we don't see much sun, and quite a bit of HEAVY fog in the area, especially at dusk.

Getting a few things done inside, but not much chance of casting anything, at least not for a while.

Well after all that bad weather, it got up to 60 degrees today(the 24th) all the ice and snow are gone except in the shady spots. the ground is soft enough to lose a Model T, but that sould dry out in a day or two. More bad weather coming this Saturday, going to try to get to a gun show in Topeka KS. They usually have the interstate clear.