[Garand]

Pretty tame actually, went shooting with the wife and a friend on Thursday with 3 different loads for the M1 Carbine. Remembrance Day/Veterans Day up here was limited to only 100 people due to Covid, so I wasn't able to attend. Just getting caught up reloading for next years matches.

 

[Garand]

Pretty tame, between a recent heavy snowfall and this covid thing, not to much going on. My wife and I went to the indoor range Wednesday morning. She had some lively comments about me shooting next to her with my Chiappa "Alaskan" in .44 Mag w/ a 12" barrel. Apparently them moving down range at 1,300 fps disturbed her concentration. Well back to reloading for next year's matches (hoping that we are back to a normal shooting season).

 

[Garand]

Today was not a great day at the range, 40 to 50 mph winds! Truck all over the road. Hard to eat breakfast outside (due to lockdown) Only tested a glock 19, spent more time keeping target stands up.

Seriously, you didn't have your AR with .22 insert and a CAN, Oh the horror how could you practice for the up coming zombie apocalypse?

 

[Garand]

I've been plugging away this week with my reloading since my wife has gone down to see her parents for a couple of days. I process my brass after shooting (deprime, resize, bell) then just put it away till reloading season (when first snow hits). I base my reloading on how many empty plastic cases are on the shelf. I should be "topped" up by the end of month due to the fact that we probably shot 1/4 the matches that we normally do this year. Around the end of February I'll start building various loads in .30-30 & 6.5x55 for a potential hog hunt.

 

[Garand]

I had problems with paypal a few years back, and just closed my account rather than continue the problems.

 

[Garand]

Nothing exciting here because of covid lockdowns, so I let my credit card go tip toe through the Brownells catalog and ordered some stuff for reloading and the M1 Carbine.

 

[Garand]

John in AR, I compete with a 19" Uberti M73 round barreled Carbine in .45 Colt, if you can find one snap it up fast. Highly recommended. I have noticed this year, that at the end of the month, I'm finding money left in my checking account, which is probably because we did no travelling at all this year, so I really don't want my credit card getting rusty.......

 

[Garand]

I had a short stroke kit and a trigger job done on both my .45 LC Uberti M73 (the 19" round barreled carbine and the 20" Short Rifle) by one of the top Cowboy Gunsmiths in Canada. Well worth the money, as smooth as melted butter.

 

[Garand]

I've been trying to "wittle" down my collection since I turned 60 and I got rid of about 12 that I no longer use. Unfortunately in the last 16 months I back slide and bought at least 5 new ones.

With the virus lockdown restricting travel to distant ranges, I'm having a problem figuring out what has become redundant lately. Prices have been jacked up on many firearms to a ridiculous level from what they were just 2 years ago. But many people are short on funds and interested buyers are asking for ridiculous price drops. I think I'll just sit on what I still own for the moment.

 

[Garand]

; would just need an appropriate shotgun.

For over 19 years shooting Cowboy Action and Wild Bunch, my go to shotgun was an original Winchester M1897. In stages where there are 4 or less shotgun targets a SXS has the advantage, in 5+ targets the M97 has the advantage. About 3-4 years ago, after a series of matches every weekend where on the Monday morning afterwards I had to drive 2 hours to my M97 gunsmith, about the 3rd trip/week in a row my wife casually asked if I knew how much had I spent getting my 3 M97's repaired in the last 24 months. Sheepishly I said "yes". She then suggested that I start using her backup Stoegar SxS in 12 gauge and just use my 97's for Wild Bunch. We now have 3 Stoegar Coach guns in 12 gauge. It is highly recommended and there are enough videos on U Tube to show you how to do the simple gunsmithing work to get the gun to maximize its performance. Also I recommend Winchester "AA", either 7 1/2 or 8 shot, Low Velocity, Low recoil ammo.

I think you would enjoy the laid back atmosphere of Cowboy Action, plus it is very family oriented.

 

[Garand]

About 15 years ago, I got a 12 gauge chamber "Flex Hone" from Brownells and have done at least 25 shotguns with it. Great piece of kit. If a shell sticks in my chambers, it is operator error. Again with the Winchester AA, it ejects beautifully, which can't be said of ammo from Federal due to the ribbing on the casing. Winchester is completely smooth.

 

[Garand]

Just finished priming 600 .30 cal carbine brass, was going to do 1,100 until I got halfway through the 600. Kind of had an attitude change. Will finish loading the casings tomorrow.

 

[Garand]

I have had better, the current Canadian government dropped the hammer on gun owners with a 70 page bill to stick it to us before they call an election sometime in the next 4 months. The good news is that the moment they call an election the bill dies in parliament. They haven't left enough time for the bill to pass through both houses of parliament, so we expect the bill to die, unfortunately if they win a federal election it will be reintroduced.

 

[Garand]

Yesterday I sat in front of the TV and chamfered 374 rds of .30/30 brass that I shot last week looking for a new load for my 1901 & 1926 Winchester M1894's. By the time I had finished the last one, I took off my gloves and realized I had given myself a blood blister. Today its gun cleaning, not that exciting by with the lockdowns up here, not much is.


Earlier this week I had to drive a close friend to the hospital 3 hours away from our town for a scheduled operation, as I hadn't seen him in about 6 months the comments from both of us was how much weight we have gained, the temperatures are starting to rise up here so I'm looking at trying to burn some of this off. Oh, Terry our idiot Prime Minister is looking at keeping the border shut until at least September, due to the fact he screwed up so badly ordering the vaccines. Being the good little communist wannabe he is, he figured China would come to our aid. They told him to piss off and he kept the information secret for almost 5 months before ordering from the US.

 

[Garand]

Spent the day on the range yesterday with a brand new chronograph, much better than that Chinese made green torpedo from RCBS. Ran the chrono on about 15 different loads of .30-30, .30 Carbine , .38 Spl & .44 Magnum, then ran 4x 3 rds groups for each of them to see what they look like at 25 yds. Anything that looks promising I'll try out to 100 yds in the next couple of weeks. Good day spent 8 hours on the range.

 

[Garand]

Spent about 5 hours resizing .30-30, 6.5x 55mm & .32-40 brass for reloading. Going to hit the range again next week at try about 10 loads for .30-30 & .30 Carbine out at 100 yds. This should narrow down the list of what will work at 200 yds.

 

[Garand]

Hit the range on Wednesday, shooting .30/30 & .30 Carbine. Looks like I have a cast lead load for my 1901 Winchester M1894. Ended up very disappointed with my 1927 Winchester M94. Regarding the M1 Carbine I came out with 2 good 100 yd loads, one with cast bullets and another with TMJ bullets. Now for the cleanup!

 

[Garand]

What a week, on Tuesday it was a beautiful day, sun shining, no wind warm enough for just a T shirt. Myself and a friend went out to shoot bianchi plates for the morning, had a great time. Last night I asked my wife if she wanted to go shooting this morning, she looked out the window seen the inch and a half of snow on the ground and said "it better be the indoor range"! That's where we went. Snow on the May long weekend, I'm betting they are a lot of unhappy campers this weekend.

 

[Garand]

working brass for reloading, building about 19 different .30/30 loads for 100 yd groups and generally getting ready for a day of load development next week (weather permitting). Yesterday, 3 of us old retired Army types went out to the range and spent 4 hours shooting bianchi plate. More brass made!

 

[Garand]

Monday was a day on the range tried out about 12 different .30/30 reloads for group size at 100 yds, zeroed 3 other rifles that I have been waiting a while to do. Had the rest of the week planned for cleanup and Thursday morning bianchi plates. Then I got email that there will be an impromptu Cowboy Action match with an added long range match this weekend. I wasn't expecting the long range match until July, I guess I better get reloading!