Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

[MustangMike]

In the mid 1970s Ruger was the first gun maker to re-introduce the 220 Swift in their M77 with a 26" bull barrel. My gun is topped with a NLA 10X fixed power Leopold Scope with AO. It was a pretty high end rig in it's day, and I remember complaining that the scope cost almost as much as the gun!

Being a reloader, I used to go to the range quite a bit. One day I got my wife to agree to come with me to see what it was all about. I set her up with the Swift on sand bags at 100 yds and let her shoot. Her first group ever at 100 yds measured 3/8". I was proud as punch, and believed she shared my enthusiasm. Then she turns to me and says "I don't like doing this"!

Well … my wife CAN shoot, but I'm the shooter in the family!

 

[muddstopper]

It’s too much scope but came on the gun! A 12 or 16 power max scope would have been fine with me. This one needs a lot of adjustment to be clear so I may downgrade to something that can pick up a target quicker. Or maybe night vision.

Gun, scope, and 40 rounds of ammunition was $370.

Sounds like you got one of the Bass pro deals I wasnt able to get.
I dont remember the calibers of any of the zogger rifles, but with the availability of bullet choices, I would bet you can good accuracy with reloading and careful bullet/ powder combos. If you can find any reloading supplies that is. With the 22/250, faster isnt always better. I got a buddy that shot a deer in the head at 486 yrds, with his reloads. I know he uses imr 4895 powder in everything. Including 44mag and 45/70, and all his other rifles. Only powder he says he needs. My bench has half a dozen or more different powders on it and I missed a deer at 30 yrds with my 270. S-it happens.

 

[LondonNeil]

qualities to look for. Available, free, splits easily, burns hot, dries easily, burns for a good while, leaves little ash....only a wood snob gets to bother past the first 2

 

[hamish]

If all you have is spruce, pine, yellow birch, poplar, tamerac, fir,........guess what.......thats what ya burn. We got wood snobs round these parts too but seems they wake up cold and outta wood lots.

 

[Ryan A]

Not one of the better beers that Dogfishhead has made. At 8.5% ABV you don't notice the taste after 3 or 4. How's things over your way Ryan?

Family is good, all are healthy and that’s all one could ask for right?

Numbers are on the rise here in Delaware County. As of Friday, Delco was at 12.5% positivity rate per 100,000.Our biggest issues in schools is staffing. There are simply not enough staff to fill the vacancies when someone gets sick or has to quarantine for 14 days. It’s a mess.

I don’t get too personal on here but my oldest daughter has a rare genetic disorder and is 100% dependent on adult support to get through her school day.It’s been a juggle for us at home to maintain her education while simultaneously teaching our own students virtually. Either my wife or I may look into taking a family leave to take care of her as what we are doing now is not sustainable for the long haul.

Challenging, but counting our blessings for sure.

 

[Ryan A]

FB and CL have been sparse for scrounging. Nothing left here to cut or split recently.

Had a lady the other day who HAD to have wood that night. Delivered it maybe 1/4 mile away and she gave me $60 for .17 of cord. Not bad.

 

[husqvarna257]

Had a snow storm hit us this weekend. All wet crap that took trees down. But my only ones were white birch trash trees less than 4" in diam. Not great but I need to clear more by the driveway when weather is better and no ice on the ground. Tractor snow blower cleared the mess the next day when it froze up. Lots of noise as it ground up the icy snow but it worked. We did not loose power until the day after for 2 hours so not bad.

 

[MustangMike]

If all you have is spruce, pine, yellow birch, poplar, tamerac, fir,........guess what.......thats what ya burn. We got wood snobs round these parts too but seems they wake up cold and outta wood lots.

My BTU chart shows Yellow Birch having the same BTUs as Red Oak, and both higher than Ash!

I think with your choices, I would look for that for the overnight wood!

 

[MustangMike]

Sounds like you got one of the Bass pro deals I wasnt able to get.
I dont remember the calibers of any of the zogger rifles, but with the availability of bullet choices, I would bet you can good accuracy with reloading and careful bullet/ powder combos. If you can find any reloading supplies that is. With the 22/250, faster isnt always better. I got a buddy that shot a deer in the head at 486 yrds, with his reloads. I know he uses imr 4895 powder in everything. Including 44mag and 45/70, and all his other rifles. Only powder he says he needs. My bench has half a dozen or more different powders on it and I missed a deer at 30 yrds with my 270. S-it happens.

The bullet, the powder, the charge amount, and primer can all make a difference, but often the length of the cartridge is as important as anything else, and where you can do what factory loads can't! Often the best accuracy is obtained with the bullet right up to the lands, but be careful with pressure if you do that.

When setting up my dies, I will sometimes just start a bullet in a un-sized case and close it in the action to see what overall length to set my die at. Just make sure it still fits in the magazine.

Some of my guns also shoot notably better with neck sized brass that has been once fired in the same gun, sometimes with a light load. When I load a box to hunt with, I want the best accuracy I can get. Virgin brass and older brass get used for target practice.

 

[MustangMike]

My two favorite powders are IMR 4350 and IMR 4064. The IMR powders are generally less affected by temperature changes, and you can find good loads for about any rifle cartridge larger than 223 with those two powers (I like H-335 in the 223).

I load 220 Swift, 30-30, 270 Win, 270 WSM, 30-06, 300 Win Mag and 348 Win.

The only draw back is they don't meter especially well, so I weight every charge. Conversely, H-335 meters very well!

 

[svk]

I always weighed every charge, just do not trust "throwing" unless it was for a shotgun or pistol where you are just plinking. Attention to detail makes a big difference in precision shooting.

 

[svk]

Sounds like you got one of the Bass pro deals I wasnt able to get.
I dont remember the calibers of any of the zogger rifles, but with the availability of bullet choices, I would bet you can good accuracy with reloading and careful bullet/ powder combos. If you can find any reloading supplies that is. With the 22/250, faster isnt always better. I got a buddy that shot a deer in the head at 486 yrds, with his reloads. I know he uses imr 4895 powder in everything. Including 44mag and 45/70, and all his other rifles. Only powder he says he needs. My bench has half a dozen or more different powders on it and I missed a deer at 30 yrds with my 270. S-it happens.

The only centerfires were .308 and 44 mag. I will definitely reload once I find some reloading equipment again. I was loading 16 calibers but sold everything several years ago.

 

[ElevatorGuy]

Brought some oak up the hill. 2 years old, I can’t wait for that heat!

 

[Philbert]

Nice looking tractor.

Philbert

 

[SS396driver]

Had to do a brake job on my wifes daily driver . 04 Envoy rears were metal to metal so all new rotors and pads . I dont think the dr will notice the dirt on the bandages what ya think

 

[djg james]

Brought some oak up the hill. 2 years old, I can’t wait for that heat!

Man that's Purdy! Nice basket of wood too.

 

[muddstopper]

The bullet, the powder, the charge amount, and primer can all make a difference, but often the length of the cartridge is as important as anything else, and where you can do what factory loads can't! Often the best accuracy is obtained with the bullet right up to the lands, but be careful with pressure if you do that.

When setting up my dies, I will sometimes just start a bullet in a un-sized case and close it in the action to see what overall length to set my die at. Just make sure it still fits in the magazine.

Some of my guns also shoot notably better with neck sized brass that has been once fired in the same gun, sometimes with a light load. When I load a box to hunt with, I want the best accuracy I can get. Virgin brass and older brass get used for target practice.

I do the same as you when setting the length. I have found that the maximum length often won fit in the mags and will cause feeding problems. Most bottle neck bullets seem to like a 15-20 thousand jump before contacting the lans. Of course I have heard of much shorter jump distances, but it doesnt seem to work for me. When I find a length that works, I usually make a dummy load to keep on the bench just for comparison. Different bullet shapes have different ogive's, so OAL can vary widely. I load for three different .270's, every one has a different OAL that they like. Only one of those rifles has a detachable mag, and it wont shoot the long bullets mine will, one is a drop door, and mine is load and unload from the top. I usually load everything to fit the mag of my grandsons rifle so the bullets will shoot in each of the three rifles. The only rifle I am real particular loading for is my 7mm mag. The biggest issue now is being able to experiment with different powders and bullets. Hard to test something you cant find and if you do much testing, you soon run out of anything to shoot.

 

[muad]

Better horde your IMR powder, the additive that makes it more temp stable was outlawed in Australia where it's all made.

At least that's what I heard.

 

[farmer steve]

Deer scrounging has been slow. I did find a lot of maple,cherry and LOCUST that is just waiting for me at my dad's farm while I was there hunting the last 2 days.

 

[woodchip rookie]

Anybody dealt with this stuff?