Shooting
Escape from Planet 4 MOA– Part 4
This installment will address what I did out in the field to escape from Planet 4 MOA. This is going to be a short one. Most of the serious work was done back home at the shooting bench. However, there were several things I did to improve my lot during deer season. I pretty much stopped shooting my deer rifles off hand. When I first started deer hunting, I was a bow hunter– first and foremost. I shot standing on a raised stand without anything in front of me. When I started using a slug gun– that’s what we used … More . . .
Escape from Planet 4 MOA– Part 3
This installment in the series will concentrate on what I did at the bench, both the shooting bench and my gunsmithing bench, to improve my accuracy with my deer rifles. I would like to remember that it was a gradual process that started about 2001 and ended with me bagging my first deer at 200 yards now in 2022. Let me begin with where I stood in 2001, when I got the farm At the time I got the farm in 2001, I had two rifles that were seriously dedicated for deer hunting. One was the original Remington 742, acquired … More . . .
Escape from Planet 4 MOA– Part 2
The most important six inches on the battlefield is between your ears. James Mattis In this case, General Mattis was right. I had over 20 years of goo to remove and replace. Lies I cannot say I ever came right out and lied to anyone about how well I shot. Compared to what I saw going on around me, I was not all that bad. I never shot a deer at 10 yards and claimed it was at 100 yards. Actually shooting a deer at 10 yards is nearly as much of a feat with a rifle as it is … More . . .
Escape from Planet 4 MOA– Part 1
Back in 2019, I wrote a missive on 24hourcampfire.com on hunting deer where the bar for accuracy was rather low. The Planet Where They Shoot 4 MOA Rifles I would suggest you go over there and read it– read the whole thread if you like. It will really set the stage for what is to come. Planet 4MOA was a very real part of my life. I lived there for a good long time. This year, I managed to shoot a nice buck at 200 yards, and I realized that I had finally escaped Planet 4MOA and moved on. I … More . . .
KY’s Early ML Season Looms
Every year we all get out for the mid-October Kentucky Early Primitive Weapons Season and use it as a dry run for the coming Rifle season. Some might think this is a waste of a weekend. It actually has a point– in fact, several. First off, this gives everyone at camp a chance to be there while the weather is still fairly nice. We can enjoy Deer Camp without feeling like we need to fill freezer space. We are out, we are really and truly deer hunting in usually ideal conditions. Secondly, Early ML acts as a dress rehearsal for … More . . .
More With ‘Bess
I finally got a chance to have some quality time with ‘Bess, just her and me. Up until now, there have always been Moose and Angus sharing the firing line, and all sorts of other constraints. Saturday, I had a chance to sit down with the Pedersoli Brown Bess Musket and really dig in. Even then, I had to hold off a couple of hours as a series of rain showers passed through starting at sunrise. The bulk of my load development centered around the .69 caliber ball. I have a Lee Mold and cast up a dozen or so … More . . .
Anniversary Weekend, 2022
This weekend marked the 21st anniversary of taking possession of our farm. It also marked the first time I’ve felt halfway normal since the Chemo ended. I was actually able to get around and putter a bit. KYHillChick stayed home with the dogs, but the rest of the tribe showed up. Moose and Junior came down Friday with the Mooselette. Angus had a last-minute piping gig, but arrived before sundown. MooseWoman showed up Saturday with her tribe. Saturday night, Moose fixed everyone steak at the campground. Moose and the Squirrel Gun Moose acquired a .32 caliber flintlock Tennessee Mountain Rifle … More . . .
Three Pounds of Powder, The Hard Way
It may not seem like much to anyone, but I had a personal triumph yesterday. It is something I planned well before starting Chemo. It was a close run operation, but I did it. I managed to procure 3 pounds of black powder. How I got it was the challenge. Friendship, Indiana is less than 50 miles from the house. Back when I was an unfettered bachelor, I used to attend the National Muzzleloading Rifle Association (NMLRA )events twice a year. I had not been in 35 years, and I had it on my retirement bucket list to join up … More . . .
A Box for Bess
I’m trying to catch up on all of what has happened in the previous months. I discovered a draft of an entry I was about to make just as this whole cancer thing kicked off. You see, I was scurrying about in mid-March, trying to get the pieces together for shooting the Brown Bess for the first time. It occurred to me that I had no hard case long enough to hold the 58-inch musket. Most production cases end at 56 inches. There was one soft-sided case out there, but it was outside my budget. I, therefore, went to the … More . . .
Bess Gets Her Cherry Popped
Saturday AM, I finally had everything assembled to get my first shot off with my Pedersoli Brown Bess. Things went off without a major hitch. I even managed to dig up some FFG Goex that I purchased in 1986 to use in the inaugural shot. The powder worked like it had been made yesterday. The first thing I did was put some powder in the pan and make sure I was going to get ignition. Check. Next, I loaded a salute round of toilet paper over 65 grains of the FFG Goex. Check. Next, I simulated a cartridge load with … More . . .
More on Bess’ Balls
The first attempt to cast balls for the Brown Bess ended with mixed results. The Lee .69 cal mold cast perfect balls for what would be standard paper cartridges, but that assumes that the shooter would be jamming multiple rounds down the barrel without any cleaning. For precision shots, I wanted a larger ball that would fit tighter. The other mold I tried on the first experiment was a Dixie Gun Works mold whose putative diameter was .75, but turned out to be more like .76– way to big for the .75″ barrel of the Pedersoli Brown Bess. Lee Precision … More . . .
Brown Bess– First Chance to Play with My Balls
Today is looking like the first really good day in a while. The snow is almost completely gone. It’s heading towards the low 60s today. I had reasons not to go to the farm, but I did have time to get my two new molds out and cast balls for the Brown Bess Musket. The first mold is a .735 brass mold I got from Dixie Gun Works. This produces a tight fit with the thinnest patching, and I’m figuring that this will produce the most accurate loads. The other just arrived in the mail this morning: a Lee Precision … More . . .
.35 Caliber Bullet Casting
I got some feedback over the previous post asking for clarification on my 35 caliber bullet casting project. I went back through my previous posts, and realized I never really wrote this up in any detail. I guess it is time I do. Mind you this is not a end-all article with step-by-step instructions. I am not here to teach bullet casting in this missive. This is more of a checklist. The Basic Premise Back during the Obama years, I decided to see how much of my firearm inventory I could feed using cast bullets. For a proof-of-concept, I picked … More . . .
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