Winter Therapy Project - Sight base for Browning High Wall
- Thread starter Snakeoil
- Start date
Snakeoil
Well-Known Member
I miss the days of my youth when all our nuts and bolts were made in the USA and hardware stores had bins of every size and grade there was and the were dirt cheap. Of course there was no metric available but we did not need them either, at least not until we bought our first import motorcycle.
KeithB
Resident Half Fast Machinist
Having a good supplier of threaded fasteners and all sorts of other small hardware is a real asset. We use a place that is about 10 minutes (one way) away, The local Lowes and Home Depot are about useless in the nut and bolt department. I remember telling one teen age clerk that the store would be a good hardware store if they only had any stock. He acted somewhat offended and told me it wasn't a hardware store, it was a "home improvement center".
462
California's Central Coast Amid The Insanity
Back in the day, one local hardware store sold black powder, but the owner was busted for storing the excess in the garage of a rental house he owned.
Another one dated back to the turn of the last century and it had that particular and wonderful smell, and the creaking and well-worn hardwood floor was an added bonus.
Last week, I was in Home Depot looking for a tap, couldn't find them, three employees looked at me as if I had three heads when I inquired of them, finally a guy showed up and even walked me to the display. Of course, they didn't have the size I was looking for.
Another one dated back to the turn of the last century and it had that particular and wonderful smell, and the creaking and well-worn hardwood floor was an added bonus.
Last week, I was in Home Depot looking for a tap, couldn't find them, three employees looked at me as if I had three heads when I inquired of them, finally a guy showed up and even walked me to the display. Of course, they didn't have the size I was looking for.
Snakeoil
Well-Known Member
Hardware stores were really a subset of General Stores. Supermarkets pretty much wiped out the grocery part of general stores and just the hardware part survived. Then Builders Square (RIP) Cheapo Depot and Lowes came along and put all the mom and pop hardware stores out of business by selling paint, lumber and other large ticket items cheaper. You can't make a living selling nuts and bolts 1 or 2 at a time to home owners.
We have two good privately own hardware stores locally. One belongs to the son of a guy I went to school with and is 3rd generation in that store. They have an entire wall of Hillman fastener and gizmo drawers that have saved my bacon more than once. They are more expensive than the big box stores for many things. But they have the stuff we need that the big box stores don't have. Plus, they are right around the corner.
Shot the rifle with the Soule mounted on it today. I expected this to happen, but it still made me chuckle. That tiny little front bead sight that Browning puts on the TH is so short that my 150 yard elevation setting was negative 3 minutes. That's 3 minutes below the sight zero. A friend has a spare 17A he said he'd give to me (I just made his RCBS lubrisizer accept a ratchet handle like the Lyman uses) and that should put the close range targets back into the range of the sight. We rarely shoot these guns below 200 yds, but we do have one match that is 100, 150 and 200 yds with an offhand meerkat shot at 400 yds as a tie breaker. So, I'll need a 100 and 150 yd sight setting.
Wind whipped up so bad today that we had snow devils whirling in front of the targets at 500 yds. Two guys shooting .32-40's saw 3 and 4 foot windage swings between shots. We were all testing loads and recording sight settings. Trying to see .32 cal holes in the snow at 500 yds with a mirage that made my spotting scope look like someone had greased the lens was a challenge. You could see all the holes in the snow one minute and the next all you saw was white.
We have two good privately own hardware stores locally. One belongs to the son of a guy I went to school with and is 3rd generation in that store. They have an entire wall of Hillman fastener and gizmo drawers that have saved my bacon more than once. They are more expensive than the big box stores for many things. But they have the stuff we need that the big box stores don't have. Plus, they are right around the corner.
Shot the rifle with the Soule mounted on it today. I expected this to happen, but it still made me chuckle. That tiny little front bead sight that Browning puts on the TH is so short that my 150 yard elevation setting was negative 3 minutes. That's 3 minutes below the sight zero. A friend has a spare 17A he said he'd give to me (I just made his RCBS lubrisizer accept a ratchet handle like the Lyman uses) and that should put the close range targets back into the range of the sight. We rarely shoot these guns below 200 yds, but we do have one match that is 100, 150 and 200 yds with an offhand meerkat shot at 400 yds as a tie breaker. So, I'll need a 100 and 150 yd sight setting.
Wind whipped up so bad today that we had snow devils whirling in front of the targets at 500 yds. Two guys shooting .32-40's saw 3 and 4 foot windage swings between shots. We were all testing loads and recording sight settings. Trying to see .32 cal holes in the snow at 500 yds with a mirage that made my spotting scope look like someone had greased the lens was a challenge. You could see all the holes in the snow one minute and the next all you saw was white.