Did anybody do ANYTHING today?

202223 Views 3358 Replies 140 Participants Last post by Riflemeister, 1 h ago

mailman

Discussion Starter · Mar 14, 2016

I did!! For the first time in a couple years I went trap shooting. After about a 20 year lay-off four clubs are getting together to revive the Hangover Trap League. I shoot for the skeet team at one of them so what the heck. Today was the first shoot and happened to be at my club. There's a total of eight shoots, two at each club, and a shoot-off. $2/week/shooter goes to prizes, so I don't think many ringers are going to spoil the fun. All four of these clubs are just around the north end of Seneca Lake from me. Three are within 10 miles and one I've never been to is maybe 30 miles down some beautiful country roads. I hope spring gets here because the top-down Mustang is ready to roll!

I don't think I ever posted a pic of my home-made custom trap gun. I found this in a little Mom & Pop gun shop when I was killing time at the Waverly NY Auto Auction. Paid $200 NIB never fired. It's the Nat. Wild Turkey Foundation raffle gun from 2007 made by H&R. I put the custom pad on with a spacer for some extra LOP, not a bad do-it-yourself effort, if I must say so! I added some serious weight in the stock, those H&R's kick like mules! Got a hammer extension, an IM choke, and I load really light 7/8 oz. loads.

First station today I missed three birds, then nailed 18/20 the rest of the way. I kinda forgot how to float the birds. Ended up with a 37/50. I'll take it. I had a blast!.........................the Mailman

See less See more

4

Reactions: 3

1 - 20 of 3359 Posts

Riflemeister

· #7 · Mar 14, 2016

I sure didn't have as much fun as it looks like you did. Mostly it just rained off and on all weekend around here. I did schedule a bird hunt at 4-B's tomorrow and a hunt at Spring River on Wednesday. I'm going to change things up and run Rebel at 4-B's and then Bode at Spring River rather than splitting the fields with them as I have been doing.

The most frustrating thing I did this weekend was cleaned up the excess files on my computer which erased my login for SGW. I then spent two days trying to log back on around this irritating John Deere advertisement at the bottom of the page. I could see the Log In button, but every time I tried to click on it, up came a John Deere page. The administrators need to re-think how the display advertising on here. If it wasn't for my buddies on the Huglu forum, I'd have given them the one finger salute and just moved on. I don't need that kinda frustration.

See less See more

Reactions: 1

Riflemeister

· #25 · Mar 17, 2016

I took Bode out to Spring River Hunts of Kansas yesterday for a workout on birds. Phil the owner said he had some chukar that were still flying pretty good so we worked those. I'm still making Bode stay absolutely steady until the bird flushes, and a couple of the chukar got up and ran a bit before flying, which was really a test for the big renegade. Phil had a collar controller, and when I went in to flush the bird, he took over and any indication of movement was stopped in his tracks. I used my #7 nickel plated wild quail handloads on those large birds and it did a great job. One bird got up wild and got out quite a ways before I shot and ended up making it to the fence line with probably just a couple of pellets in it. Bode went for the retrieve and by chance the bird got up and flew back to give me about a 30 yard crossing shot that ended his escape attempt. The others were all one shot, one bird.

I'll really be glad when Bode gets over whatever jealousy thing he has going over the pup and gets back to just doing his work the way he knows it should be done. I've got two more hunts before the season ends and I'll try just taking one dog on each hunt and see if that is the solution. When that big sucker is on his game, it is almost magical the way he can clean a field of birds. Wish me luck.

See less See more

Riflemeister

· #29 · Mar 19, 2016

Work day at the Joplin Rifle and Pistol Club's gun range today. It seems like on work days, no one under 60 years old ever shows up. Just a bunch of us old pharts cleaning up debris and rebuilding target frames. Seems like anything downrange is going to be shot to pieces, must be that AR-15 spray and pray crowd. The old adage of "one shot, one kill" just doesn't appear to hold any meaning for the younger crowd.

Riflemeister

· #38 · Mar 20, 2016

leftieD said:
Went trap shooting on Friday. Shot some experimental loads I made up out of some of the 500 NOS clear Cheddite primed hulls given to me. The "brass" on them was tarnished and the plastic is a bit dull so I know they were old hulls. So I tried using up some PT1210 wads that I purchased some time back, when BPI was out of PT1205's, hoping at the time to figure out how to make up some 7/8 oz shells from these 1 oz wads. Didn't work out. Then BPI discontinued the complete PT line of wads and so these things need to get used up. Figured I'd load up a few and test the freebie hulls and so I loaded a few of the clear Cheddites with the full 1 oz the wad was designed for and added a couple/three to my vest to try out. Don't know if I misread the load data or if the old primers are off, but every one of them sounded like a poof when shot.

Shot some of the same wads in Remington Game Club hulls were they are 7/8 oz loads and do work quite well (with new primers) and smoke birds from the 16 yd line. Best part of the day was the large box full of picked up once fired Gun Club hulls from policing the field when we were done. I also got a few Federal Red White and Blue top gun hulls that I might save for trading material when I get enough for someone that loads them.

Sounds like your Cheddite hulls were straight wall and your Remington hulls were tapered. The straight wall hulls need a larger diameter base on the wad to properly seal and prevent powder migration past the wad. I got in a hurry one evening and loaded some 20 ga Windjammer wads in some 16 ga hulls to shoot skeet with the next morning. Big time "POOF" on all those shells although I did break a few clays while salvaging the hulls.

Riflemeister

· #41 · Mar 21, 2016

I took Rebel to 4-B's this morning for his last bird hunt of the season. I had them put out 6 chukar for him and he did a great job if you don't count the one he pointed on the far side of the field and then laid down while I hiked over to flush the bird. He did get up when I went in to get the bird up. I hope that wasn't expressing an opinion about hunting with a 74 year old guy.

I arrived at the clubhouse at 0745 and then looked at my watch as I put chukar #6 in my game pouch and it was 0830. In 45 minutes I exchanged pleasantries with everyone, drove to the field, Cat planted the chukar, and Rebel found, pointed, and retrieved the 6 chukar I shot. Kinda like speed dating chukar. I think both Rebel and I were on our game today.

Riflemeister

· #60 · Mar 24, 2016

I took Bode to 4-B's this morning to hunt chukar on the last hunt of this season. I had my buddy JD shooting while I worked Bode, assuring he was steady until the birds flushed. Everything went well, even getting to hunt a couple of the birds twice when JD failed to put them down. One bird Bode pointed just ran when we tried to flush it and it ended up hiding under Bode. He stayed steady until I pushed it out behind him and then it was curtains for Mr Chukar. Looks like Bode's hunting for himself has been solved and I actually got to shoot a couple of birds over him with no problems at all.

Riflemeister

· #65 · Mar 26, 2016

mailman said:
I gotta ask, seriously, cdb, with all the bangbang you do, what do you wear for ear protection? I wear electric muffs when I shoot clays (I like to hear what's being said) and some solid plug-ins when I'm doing rimfires by myself. I had my hearing checked a couple yrs ago and it was fine for my age, even though Mrs. Mailman dtsagreed with their findings............................the Mailman

Don't worry, selective hearing is a time honored marriage survival technique.

Riflemeister

· #89 · Apr 8, 2016

Kind of a busy week. I made up and fireformed a new batch of 280 Ackley Improved cartridges for my Winchester M-70 rifle. Finished prepping and truing two M-70 and a Rem 700 actions for barrelling. I have the 7mm-08 barrel threaded, fitted and ready to chamber for one of the M-70's and then on to the 6mm-284 and then the 25-06. After that I need to send them up to Joe in Harrisonville, MO for Ceracote and finally pillar bed them in their McMillan stocks. With luck I'll get them shipped out to Idaho by mid-summer.

The biggie this week has been trying to trap a skunk that may or may not have set up housekeeping under the deck of the shop. 4 days ago Bode alerted on the whistle that takes rain runoff under the driveway of the shop. I have two 6" diameter pipes under the drive and if nothing is in there, I can see daylight through both pipes by getting my head right on the ground. One pipe had something blocking it, so I put both dogs back in their kennels and stuck a water hose in the pipe and turned on the water. A skunk ran out and before I could head it off, it scooted under the deck of the shop. There was evidence of something disturbing the shrub bed to gain entry under there, but we've had rabbits raise families under there, so I wasn't concerned until I saw the skunk go under the deck. Bode has been sprayed twice this winter and had one other skunk encounter where I was able to call him off before he got sprayed. I borrowed a live trap from a buddy and have placed it by the crawl spot by the deck for several nights. First I used a can of cat food for bait and last night I used sardines packed in oil. So far I haven't caught a thing, not even the neighbor's cat. I think I'll give it a week and then block up the hole under the deck and consider that skunk a transient rather than a resident. The last time Bode got skunked was as I was getting ready to leave for the Alabama hunt and I got to use the hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, and Dawn soap formula. I'd give it about an 80% rating with one quick application before hitting the road, but Bode was known as Stinky for that hunt.

Any ideas from others with skunk trapping experience?

See less See more

Riflemeister

· #101 · Apr 9, 2016

cdb1097 said:
barrelsquared said:

Can't stay away from it, huh, Cdb? . Making a little extra gun/ammo money?

Click to expand...

Yep, plus in order to deduct the $9,500 it cost to move here I have to keep my business open for the next 2 years. Should be no problem, electricians are in high demand in the area I moved to, without even advertising I am working enough for me.

cdb

Better watch it cdb, if you get a reputation as an excellent electrician who shows up on time and gets the work done on schedule, this retirement thing will be a distant memory. In my gunsmithing, I've had to learn to say no on occasion and limit myself to jobs that really interest me.

Riflemeister

· #109 · Apr 15, 2016

Joplin Gun Club Trap League started tonight. I shot a couple of rounds for practice and I'll just say I improved on my second round. When trap league ends, we roll right into skeet league and when that finishes up it'll be time to pack up, load the dogs and head west for bird hunting. Dang, that must mean it's almost bird season again.

Riflemeister

· #121 · Apr 21, 2016

Congrats on the new truck. Sounds like you've done your homework on this one (except for the four wheel drive thing). I promise not to mention that if you have to be pulled out of the mud on our pheasant hunt.

Riflemeister

· #134 · Apr 24, 2016

Beautiful truck. Dark Blue? Tell me you're not enjoying that new truck smell.

Riflemeister

· #159 · May 3, 2016

I've been busy helping out for the owner of Spring River Hunts, Phil Dockery, who is in the hospital with what they believe to be a stroke. cdb met Phil on the hunt where he killed the chukar with his 50,000th shot out of his Canvasback. I've been going over in the afternoons, cleaning kennels and feeding dogs. Hopefully he'll be getting out soon and make a full recovery.

Riflemeister

· #166 · May 5, 2016

jac63 said:
Shot my first round of SC for the year after work. As a 3-4 times a year shooter I usually shoot in the low to mid 60's and that's exactly where I was today, 60. I look at some of the scores that others sometimes post and I have to wonder if I'm really that bad of a shooter? Or is it just a tough course that I shoot? 8 of us today and the high score was a 61, my 60 and 3 guys in the low 50's and a couple 40's. I know none of us are world class shooters but I don't think we are a complete waste either. Granted shooting a limited number of times a year doesn't help but you'd think someone would get lucky once in a while and post a score in the 80's. Oh well we have fun regardless.

There are valid reasons you don't see me posting my clay shooting scores on here. Most sporting clays courses have degenerated from replicating bird shooting to "gotcha" presentations where the terrain, trees and anything else is used to confuse the shooter into shooting where it isn't. Sounds to me like you came in a close second with a bunch of experienced bird hunters. Not too bad.

Riflemeister

· #211 · May 12, 2016

Got my Ebay purchased 12 ga MEC Sizemaster set up and loading 1 oz, 1200 fps loads for my AYA 117 sidelock. Hooked up, tested and set up my shrub bed irrigation system for the summer. Pouring a concrete pad around my kennel freeze proof faucet this afternoon. Shooting trap league this evening. Retirement is overrated unless it's bird season.

Riflemeister

· #217 · May 14, 2016

Rebel is ensconced with my bird dog mentor and national amateur field trial champ, Skip Bond, for work on his retrieving, so I'm loading up Bode for a road trip to Alabama early tomorrow morning. I'm going to introduce tebeaux to Mr Parker O Ackley in the form of an awesome 280 Ackley Improved. The gun he's getting is a blueprinted Wichester M-70 pillar bedded in a Brown Precision stock, Lilja stainless barrel in 10" twist, Leupold 3-9X Premier Reticle holdover and ranging scope, nice two pound trigger, and everything Ceracoted in Graphite black. It shoots 140 grain Nosler Accubond bullets at 3260fps into nice little sub 1/2" groups at 100 yards. All that makes for an awesome long range hunting rifle.

Riflemeister

· #220 · May 14, 2016

cdb1097 said:
Riflemeister said:

Rebel is ensconced with my bird dog mentor and national amateur field trial champ, Skip Bond, for work on his retrieving, so I'm loading up Bode for a road trip to Alabama early tomorrow morning. I'm going to introduce tebeaux to Mr Parker O Ackley in the form of an awesome 280 Ackley Improved. The gun he's getting is a blueprinted Wichester M-70 pillar bedded in a Brown Precision stock, Lilja stainless barrel in 10" twist, Leupold 3-9X Premier Reticle holdover and ranging scope, nice two pound trigger, and everything Ceracoted in Graphite black. It shoots 140 grain Nosler Accubond bullets at 3260fps into nice little sub 1/2" groups at 100 yards. All that makes for an awesome long range hunting rifle.

Click to expand...

You have a safe trip, and be careful :!: :!:

cdb

Don't worry, just like I tell my wife, "I calmly and thoroughly assess each situation, evaluate every option, and promptly do the stupidest thing I can think of." Works for me.

Riflemeister

· #258 · May 21, 2016

Golf never interested me at all. I always thought if you gave everyone a ball and a club, fired a starting pistol, first one through wins, you don't count strokes, it might interest me. My theory is if I'm going to walk that far, it'll be trying to bag some sort of critter and preferably chasing after a bird dog.

I had a nice visit to Alabama. Drove down Sunday and returned Wednesday. tbeaux has a new 9 week old female German Shorthair that is a dandy. The pup is absolutely fearless and is already pointing birds, retrieving them, swimming in the lake and retrieving thrown sticks, and attacking every big dog on the place. Quite the girl. I got to put Bode on one of the remaining bobwhites and finally shot a bird with my DeHaan 28 ga. I'm now 100% on bobwhite with the gun, one bird, one shot. Tried finding wild pigs to hunt, but despite spreading corn around the day before, they were no place to be found. We did see turkeys, deer, coyotes, racoon and a fox. Several covies of bobwhite were seen that had chicks in tow. Other than 26 hours of driving, it was a fine time.

See less See more

Riflemeister

· #274 · May 22, 2016

cdb1097 said:
Bought a 22kw whole house generator yesterday, should be delivered to the house in 2 weeks.

cdb

Real nice, is it air or liquid cooled engine? Last time I had my 20kw Generac serviced, the tech seemed impressed that we had a liquid cooled engine. Not sure what the significance of the type cooling is on a standby generator though.

Riflemeister

· #307 · May 27, 2016

I mowed those parts of my yard I could get to without fitting a snorkel to my zero turn. We're up to about 2 1/2" of rain so far this week and rain is forecast for the next 7 days. I know the farmers need the rain, but how about just a couple of days a week?

1 - 20 of 3359 Posts