so waht ya doin today?

[462]

A tip o' the ol' hat to Mr. L. Ross!

A month or so ago, I wrote about giving up on the RCBS 30-180-SP, because I was getting better accuracy with the Lyman 311284. Mr. Ross said to keep at it and to use 2400 instead of Unique that I'd been using. (Why the bullets have never seen 2400 has been filed in my constantly expanding The Many Mysteries of Life binder.)

This morning's 50-yard experiment featured the 03A3, the 30-180-SP, and 16.0, 18.0, and 20.0-grains of 2400. The next experiment will a 100-yard, winner-take-all runoff with 16.0 and 20.0-grains. My money is on 16, because it gave a sub-MOA three-shot cloverleaf, but the two outliers opened the group up to 1"-plus.

Also tested were SR4759 and 5744, but they were a waste of powder and primers. I've never had either powder perform to the level that they have for others, so whatever is remaining in their cans is free for the taking.

 

[Ian]

I tried some XMP5744 about a decade ago, was wholly unimpressed. Never tried any of the SR powders.

 

[JWFilips]

Having some Kerrie Gold Extra Reserve Cheddar Cheese and a bit of Red Wine Checking in tonight to read threads!

 

[Cadillac Jeff]

Mr. Smokeywolf, glad that you have Mrs. Smokeywolf back home & back in your care !!

 

[L Ross]

Great news for the Smokeywolves.

 

[fiver]

if that was 4756 I'd drive over and take it all.

Dang Smokey,, out the same day?
that's an excellent sign.

man I dunno.
you know how sometimes you get a feeling you need to go somewhere and finish off something you been mulling over for quite some time?
well I got to thinking about scope shopping again while I was out topping off the carrots I got to go to seed this summer, so I could get things lined out on the Bergara before deer season.
I give Littlegirl a call and she says well,,, I was just thinking I'd really like a pumpkin spice sumthin or other from the coffee shop over in Pokey.

anyway since we were there we swung by the Lowe's to check lumber prices and sure enough they are back down pretty close to where they were before, they also has some corrugated metal in stock which I would have snagged if we'd been in the truck.

oh,,, got a nice Leupold 4X12X50 CDS which is exactly what I have been hunting for.
they had it tucked down in the corner looking all lonely and slightly sad sitting there.
best part was it fit right in the rings like I thought it would when I mounted them, next best part was free mounting and bore sighting,,,, and the bestest part was I got 5% off which covered all but 4 dollars worth of the sales tax.

 

[Mitty38]

Well, I bought a roll of strapping and rigged the truck exhaust up. Temporary, till I can get back to it. The exhaust was literally laying between the rear axel and the transmission cross member. Good thing I got to it when I did, if I had kept driving it that way I would have been buying a Y pipe.
Went grocery shopping and told wife, "let's just stop in at the pawn shop and take a look see. Do not want to buy something, just look." Famous last words. Well made it past the 500 buck and under "self defence" guns and a Stevens sweet 16.
Thought I was free and clear, headed to the door. But Right Eye level by the door I saw something that made me stop cold.
They had a Vintage CB the same era as my truck. TriStar 240, side band radio. It had to find a home. A couple of my friends use ²⁷.⁷⁰⁵ as their personal communication channel. That's 23+. No one uses side bands anymore, so pretty much their exclusive channel. Now I will be able to join them when we are rolling to an auction, gun show, or what ever.
Well got home and checked the mail. New pistol barrel was in it. Sat down and file fitted it to my slide. Stroke , check stroke check, double check .......... Then when I was just about to give it up for the night, clink ... Perfect fit.
Not too bad of a day, my wallet is unexpectedly lighter by 40 bucks, but I guess you will have that.

 

[Ian]

I sure am happy with the VX-3i 3.5-10x50 on my Tikka. I like a plain, duplex reticle with no ballistic clutter. I can aim 6" high and a little into the wind if necessary.

I been scope shopping like mad for a week. I'm pretty sure what I want isn't made anymore.

Did you guys realize weaver no longer makes rifle scopes? Tasco doesn't make anything that costs more than $89?

Vortex doesn't make anything close to what I'm after.

Leupold renamed their whole rifle scope line for about the third time this century and dropped the low-power variables from their mid to upper end lines. Ugg.

 

[smokeywolf]

I never trust others any more than I have to with mine or my family's well-being. You need to keep your family under your watchful eye. Never completely trust your loved ones to the medical industry. Far more people die due to medical mistakes, than due to mishandling of firearms.

Prep nurse went over the paperwork (surgical orders) this morning and they were wrong. "A-Fib Ablation" (left Atrium) was indicated on the paperwork when Mrs. smokeywolf's procedure was specifically for an "A-Flutter" (right Atrium). "A-Flutter Ablation" does not involve the left Atrium; only the right Atrium. They are significantly different and the A-Fib Ablation carries more risk. Nurse tried to tell us, "they're basically the same procedure". I asked her, "Why are you telling us something that is absolutely contrary to what the surgeon told us just last week?"
Turned out, the mistake was made by the surgeon's staff, not by the hospital staff.
They corrected the paperwork. The mistake and correction was acknowledged by the surgeon.

Modern medicine is wonderful and amazing. I can't imagine losing a family member to an infection that could have been cured with a few doses of Penicillin or a problem that could have been pinpointed and identified by an Xray. But, just remember, your wife, children, father, sister, mother are nowhere near as important to the "medical professional" as they are to you.
Thank God we have people who commit years of their life to the study of medicine (like our own Brad). But, in the end, you have to assume much, if not most, of the responsibility for the health, safety and well-being of your family.

 

[CZ93X62]

That is a scary near-miss, SW.

Most of the support staff at my medical group are new. RNs and LVNs are bailing in droves to become "travel nurses", it pays 2X to 4x the usual rates. For added flavor, my medical group is firing any and all staff--CNAs to M.D.s--that haven't taken The Jab on 10/01. The world has lost its mind over the past 18 months. Yeah, I watch those people like a hawk, and minimize my contacts with them.

 

[L Ross]

That seed we put out last week, that got the timely rain? Sprouting. A bazillion little green plantlettes everywhere. Warm weather forecast this week and the leaves are starting to fall. Because all of these roads are in heavy hardwoods the leaves should provide some protective cover from the future cold weather. At least I hope so.

I took my Lund fishing yesterday with the new trailer bearings. About halfway to the lake I stopped and felt the hubs. Cool and nice. Dropped the boat off at my buddy's house in the late afternoon because he lives close to the lake I'll be fishing today and that saves towing the boat an hour and forty five minutes home and the same back again this morning. He hobbled down to the shed with a walker as part of exercising the new knee and we plugged the on board charger in. I looked down and a Bearing Buddy was gone! I was very careful to seat that Bearing Buddy with a rubber mallet fully and squarely. I wonder if in removing and replacing a BB on a hub you don't get as tight a fit. Or should a guy wipe the grease off the area where the flange drives on? Scrounged the shed and found an old classic dust cover hub cap I can use to keep the water out the next couple of days.

 

[Bret4207]

Hundreds of billions of $$$ in play out there in the Medical Industry. As with any other industry, it's about profit and growth- and paying the lawyers. Not that that is a bad thing at all, but you need to watch out for #1. My late FIL spent the last 20 years of his life without the use of the left side of his body due to an obvious medical issue that his oh so wonderful and knowledgeable MD's missed. It was clearly a malpractice issue IMO, but they didn't pursue it. I've seen dozens of cases like that and I'm just a regular guy, not a person who watches for such things. It's criminal in my opinion, but they get away with injuring zillions of people every year. In my area we have to travel 4 hours into another state to get care for anything serious, and I live in NY!!! Crazy stuff.

 

[Bret4207]

Mitty, strapping up an exhaust system is standard practice for us regular guy types. Actually, using real strapping is grounds for being called a "social climber" in my neck of the woods!

 

[JonB]

I made a 'handshake' deal (on facebook) to swap my boat/motor/trailer for a sweet aluminum utility trailer. This fella appears to be a shadetree dealer of guy stuff. He had several trailers/boats/ATVS/guns/and powertool equipment. AND... He agreed to drive the 130 mile round trip to my place, where we can finalize the details $$$ and consummate the deal. I suspect I'll be adding about $1k taboot. Boats are a tough sell, utility trailers are about like Primers. So this may be the exact wrong time for me to come out on this swap...but that's life.

 

[462]

My wife has to wear a lift in her left shoes, because the "best" knee doc in three counties made her right knee too long.

My problem is the accent and unpronounceable names of the receptionists/schedulers/front desk ladies. Also, if a doc wants my business he'll see me in person, because I refuse to see him on my computer screen. (Besides, the first thing I did when I got the laptop was place a piece of electrical tape over the camera.) The medical advancements in my lifetime are truly amazing, but I'm old enough to remember when the family doc made house calls.

 

[Mitty38]

My wife has to wear a lift in her left shoes, because the "best" knee doc in three counties made her right knee too long.

My problem is the accent and unpronounceable names of the receptionists/schedulers/front desk ladies. Also, if a doc wants my business he'll see me in person, because I refuse to see him on my computer screen. (Besides, the first thing I did when I got the laptop was place a piece of electrical tape over the camera.) The medical advancements in my lifetime are truly amazing, but I'm old enough to remember when the family doc made house calls.

Yep yep.
My doc the other day, asked my why I did not come in sooner to get an GI issue taken care of. Bacterial infection. It as plagued me for over a month. Missed a days works over it, could not get anything done at home. But the cure was take a prescription for 4 days and done.
My response. I would have, but I called you 3 times and your receptionist gave me advice, and told me to buy over the counter this and that. Rather then make an appointment. Would not give me an appointment, untill I called and insisted, without giving her symptoms to diagnose.

 

[popper]

Quotes from a good friend's dad who was a surgeon. 'lots of people in cemeteries due to errors'. Also, 'hospital is where you go to get sick'. Another friend says hosp has the best food in the neighborhood. Haa.

 

[Ole_270]

Warning: long rant
Medicine has become Medi$ine. Corporate group built a new hospital near our small town when the old one closed down due to needed renovations. New corp bought out all the local drs and moved them into the hospital. The two main ones were in their upper 70s lower 80s anyway. I started with one of the new guys a couple years ago. I've posted about the carpel tunnel syndrome I've been putting up with before. First dr appointment for the problem was early June. Scheduled an MRI with the portable trailer that visits alot of the smaller hospitals in the area. Yep, 3 discs in my neck degenerating. Sent me to another affiliated hospital 30 miles south to get shots in my neck. 1st one helped all of 2 days, scheduled another and it lasted close to a week. I started researching it and found that by 40 years old most men have had their discs degenerate 60%. I'm 68. Sounds like he scheduled a test to find out what was a known factor. Never looked at my hands or wrists. 3 1/2 months later he finally decides to schedule an appointment with a hand specialist. The guy is from a big city and is only in the regional hospital 40 miles away one day a week. I waited a week with no call about an appointment. Found out a friend of my daughters had had the same dr for her carpel tunnel. She gave me the office number and told me to call them myself. I called, receptionist said the local office hadn't called, but agreed to make an appointment 2 weeks further on. When I went in for the appointment they said the local dr still hadn't called. Specialist looked me over and said I had all the classic symptoms, but would have to take a nerve test at a big hospital 100 miles away before he would do surgery. A week later I still hadn't heard of any appointment at the nerve testing place. I called the number the specialists office had given me and they swore they'd never heard from the regional hospital. Refused to make an appointment without drs orders. Also told me it would be close to December before they had any time slots. I immediately called the specialists office and they swore they had sent the orders in 2 weeks prior and had called later as well. I asked for them to follow up and make sure I had an appointment, then call me. I called the local dr office to complain about all the confusion and asked for the dr to call me to see if there was another direction we could go. This was last wednesday. I still haven't heard from any of them. About ready to explain my feelings in person!

 

[Mitty38]

Gave away all my 9mm to friends and family during this crisis. Traded off my 9 mm dies for a round ball mould.
Figured I only had one 9mm and hardly shot it, so kept one box, then proceeded to help some fellows out.Went 380 for carry.
Just getting close to finishing a custom 9 and went to check my stash. For got a out my previous generosity and counted 30 rounds.
Well went to the big box store and 27 bucks box of 50, for 9mm aluminum case.
But have to break it in some how. So bit the bullet, bought 2 boxes. Could kick myself.
Well at least I found some small pistol magnum primers, 9 bucks for 100.
Kinda steep but at least not as bad a hit as I took with the ammo.
If I had kept my 9 mm dies I would be loading with a smile right now, I have everything to load 9mm but dies and a trimmer guage.

 

[fiver]

went and got the scope sighted in today.
I was some confused when I couldn't go down with my bullet strikes so got the instructions back out and tried reading them again.
jeezus H christ that writing is super tiny, I didn't have my cheaters with me so had to use the scope to read them.
finally figured it out, then had to dig through the range bag for an Allen wrench I had 600 different ones in there for every scope ring and base on the planet but not one for the stupid scope itself.
looked in the other side, and the front pocket,,, just cause I'd looked everywhere else, so why not? miraculously there was one the right size down in the bottom of that pocket under the half roll of paper towel so I got the thing lined out.


finally shot that 722 full length stock rifle I got from Walter [yeah I know like 2 years later]
surprisingly it shoots damn good for a 4 power weaver and non worked up fully case sized loads with home swaged jacketed bullets.
I got those 152 gr. bullets running right along just about -2700 fps on top of a bunch of AA-2700
but it was developing a for sure pattern of 3 shot triangles consistently holding the outer edges at 1-1/2 inches, I shot three of them in a row right over the top of each other plus one more single round just to see before I run out of ammo.
three holes here, three holes here, four holes here...
I think I'll see if I can't put that takeoff Vortex on this rifle for a bit more scope power, put a little better recoil pad on it, and see if I can't shrink the groups down some.

I'm pretty darn impressed with that little rifle as is though, whomever put it together done some pretty slick gun smithing just getting the barrel free floated and being smart enough to put the sling studs where they did to not stress the fore end wood when it's being carried.

heck I'm impressed I could still shoot well enough to put actual groups together with a rifle.
I put together one solid real world 3 shot 1/2" group with the Bergara and some of the good not so crooked close in weight bonded bullets, it was a bit of a struggle to do that with the old scope.
and it was close-nuff repeatable with a second group a little bit later with more of the 'good' bullets.

guess I'm gonna have to do a little better weight sorting, and handle operating in the swaging area.