The Kids! and Family Stuff

Well it has been a busy couple of days. The Kids (Kristyn, Ashley and David) have been at home. It is spring break here in Idaho. They all decide that the old homestead was the place to be. It has been fun to have them home. We play croquet in the dark... what fun! I got to be the poison person and was able to knock a few of them out of the game.

Kristyn bought a new house. Her FIRST house... so Mom and I have been help get stuff for the new house. She is leaving today with the first carload of stuff. I am guessing it will be the first of many. Hmm this might be a good thing... more places to store my junk! But she is excited to more in. It is a very small house... but great for a single gal.. and the monthly payments are less than rent in Portland... so at least she is gaining equity in something... Not just throwing money away.

Ashley and David stopped by and help clean up a few things. They hit the road for a spring road trip to see the California Redwoods. They are so funny. No Maps... just google! They have it all planned on the computer. This new generation! They called last nite... they are in Prospect, Oregon... I think it is somewhere near Crater Lake. That was one of the places they wanted to vist.... They are having fun and that is what they need to be doing.. They are planning on meeting back in Portland with Kristyn. It will be great to hear the stories next week.

Mom is painting the garage and I am working on new kennels for the dogs. Hopefully, I will be able to pour cement later this spring. Having a cement floor will be nice... less mud. I am taking Thursday and Friday off... TAXES!

Reloading Stuff

Interesting.... Got a bunch of old reloading stuff from a Friend! We want me to reload it for him...
FIRST Thing:
Sort out the hulls! Oh MY! He must have save EVERYTHING he shot. There were a lot that were not reloadable. Some of the cheaper hulls have paper bases... These are not good for reloading. But there was a lot of Winchester AA's, a few Remmington RXPs (now called STS), and a few Federal Gold Medals. The rest went to the garage can!

SECOND Thing:
"wash" all the hulls! They must have been in his garage for years! Covered with dirt and sawdust. Here is my way of cleaning: Five galleon buck with hot water and Simple green cleaner. Let the hulls soak for a couple of hours... then mixed them around for a couple of minutes... then rinsed with Hot water. Had to rinse them several times to get the soap out.

Then dumped the hulls out into a couple of Costco boxes (flat ones). Set them out in the sun for half a day. Everytime I thought about it, I went out and stirred them up... get the water out from inside them that I might missed the first time. By the end of the day they were dry and CLEAN!

NOTE: All the hulls SMELL!... like Simple Green! Oh well.. they are clean! I then put all the hulls in boxes by kind.

Last Thing:
Figure out what loads to use. I have a pretty good ounce and a eighth for Winchester AA... Even though I usually shoot an OUNCE load... So I will start with that for him. He supplied most of the lead and the primers... So I will have to charge him for the powder. I will go price a couple of pounds of Hodgdon's Clays. I like the way it works and is very clean burning. ( http://data.hodgdon.com/shotshell_load.asp )

Also there an excellent tool on costing out your development of a box of reloaded shotgun shells.
http://www.trapshooters.com/rlcalcadv.htm
This tool is extremely helpful....
Currently in Idaho with the cost of lead shot, powder, wads and primers... The hulls are free! I am saving about 84 cents a box. Not great.. but when you shoot 4 boxes a week, it adds up! The savings is great for my 28 guage. More on that later.

Happy Shooting!

Winter League Score's are IN.... 5th place OA!

Well it was a good league shoot!. We had our party on Saturday...I came in fifth place with a score of 425 out of 500. 85% average... not bad! The top four shooters were professionals that were practicing for the years big Competition Matchs! So I felt pretty good. I was only 25 birds away from the HOA score.... So that is only 2.5 birds per weeks that I missed.

I know rationalizing... but still feel pretty good about my shooting. I need to work on concentration. I do silly things like break 3 birds in a row.. then miss the last one. Hmmm.. I broke the first three... what's up with the last one. Over confidence?

Something to work on for the next league.

Fuchs and Szecsei Double Bolt Rifle

OK... OK... I know... I don't shoot a rifle very much.. But this would a lot of fun to have and play with.....

Check out the link!

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7273185959068799190&hl=en

This is a 375 Holland & Holland double rifle! Double Rifles are made especially for dangerous game like lions, tigers, Cape Buffalo, elephant and rhinos. It is very expensive to create such a weapon. First the barrels are selected and a load that works best in both barrels at 125 yards. This is usually a factory load, since most pople that shoot these are no worrying about reloads. Once the ammo has been selected then the barrels are tacked together. The thought is that you create a crossing pattern with the gun at a given yardage... usually about 100 to 125 yards. Because the barrels are so close the pattern is within a 5 inch circle until this yardage. Beyond that the accuracy is not guaranteed. But if you can keep both shots inside 5 inches... that is the kill zone of dangerous game... Then you are good to go!

Note: These guns are very hard on the shooters shoulder...

Picasa Web Albums

Ever wanted to see all the photos I've uploaded to my blog in one place? Head over to Picasa Web Albums and now you can! Google been working closely with the Picasa team on this project - all the photos I've uploaded since December will appear in an album there, and They are working on migrating older photos as well. (It'll take a while though - there are a lot of them.)

Check out my Piscasa Web Albums! I have a bunch of pictures there!

Guy's Shooting for God

Looks like we have a group to shoot with.... Christian group of guys... Hopefully we will be able to add some others and show them the love of God by having a shooting fellowship. More later.

Pheasants Forever!

Saturday March 10th !
The local Pheasant Forever had a shoot at Black Dogs Clays in Boise. I joined a team of Tom, Tim, Jim, David and Paul. The wind was bad and the clays floated and dropped like rocks. But everyone had a great time... I did not shoot as well as I normally do, Guess it was just not my day. But 75 out of 100 is not bad... The team had several guys that had never shot Clays before. But the great thing is that two of them (Tom and Paul) now want to shoot the third Thursday of the month after work! YAHOO! someone else to shoot with on a regular basis. Also I am sure it will help my game. Shooting at the same range everytime... You learn how the target setter sets targets... There is only a few ways .. So seeing a new range and new targets will help!. Also talked to George S. and he told me about a great range in Reno... Since I have a place there now... I guess I have another reason to take my Shotgun along on a road trip!

Surprise Birthday Parties - Yuck!

Note to self:.... I don't like surprise birthday parties.... I was nice to have my Bible study group.. but I really wanted to have quiet night at home. Kristyn left at 4:30 today to go back to Portland... but her flight did not get to Portland until also 8:30... You gotta love airlines. Tomorrow is the big 5 -4.... Going to go shooting by myself at Homedale.... Just me and the owner... Should be fun... Planning on shooting 100 rounds and the come home and do the taxes. I have been putting them off... and now is the time to get them done. It will be fun - at least a day shooting is better than Work... but work pays the bills. Hopefully will get a few packages in the mail.... waiting for a 1000 28 guage shells.... I am planning on shooting the spring league using just 28 guage.... but that may have to wait until summer. Need to pay off a few bills and finish a few house projects before I go crazy with the 28 guage.

Kristyn will be home again in two weeks.... So hopefully she and I will get to go shooting again!

47 out of 50... and 12 out of 50

Well... Kristyn, Denise and I all when Sporting Clays shooting. Kristyn had never shot before.. and she out 12 out of 50. Here is a picture of her hit a pigeon.... now what really makes this exciting.. at least to dear old dad (me!) is she is using a 28 guage Beretta shotgun!... with only 1/2 ounce of shot!

I was shooting my 12 guage... and had a great day! shot a 47 out of 50. I even got a bonus (shot a true pair with one shot!) We had lots of fun!

Season is Over... But a New one begins

So the hunting season as come to an end, but a new season is beginning. Sport Clays. I have been shooting pretty regular at Idaho Sporting Clays in Homedale, Idaho. Have made a good friend of the owner and his wife (Jim and Carol Davenport). I started shooting last spring and have not missed a week (except Christmas) of shooting at least 50 rounds a week. When I started out shooting, I was hoping to break 30 out of 50. My friend, David N. and his son Robbie, shot with me that first league. We had great fun together. Almost every Saturday morning during the summer we could be found at the clays range. David and Robbie had to quit because of the cost. I know it is a bit expensive... it costs $15 per 50 rounds. But it has at least help a bit on my stress level at work. In the Fall league, shot by myself. Denise has been coming out and pushing the buttons for me. It has been our date nite. But I do miss the competitiveness of shooting against the guys. But I did pretty well, I took second in the league. I am now averaging 42 out of 50. My goal is to shoot above 40 every time... That make me about a 80% hit shooter..... I am hoping to boost that up to 45/50, which would be a 90% shooter. More practice I have been reading a lot and hopefully we be able to get there in the near future. I will keep you posted. I would love to hear your thoughts on Sporting Clays if you happen to read this.

March 1

Well well guess I need to keep this thing up