270 Win for Coyotes

I am fending off a cold that I got from Belladonna.  One of the nice things about being retired is that I can stay home and nap about 23 hours a day.

The downside for the blog is that the posts will be a little bit simpler.

Things don't always turn out the way I plan

Label pasted to inside of the lid.  This information will be useful the next time Josh needs more bullets.  Pasting it to the inside protects it from the weather.

This part turned out well. The brass did not need trimming, which is always a bonus.  Josh and his brother plan to shoot coyotes.  The 270 Winchester is a capable taking moose when loaded with appropriate bullets, so it is plenty of medicine for coyotes.

Josh and his brother need a little bit of polishing on their woodcraft skills but I cannot fault them on their enthusiasm.  There is no shortage of yodel-dogs around here.

Dang!  My mascara ran.

This did not turn out.  I did not have clear packing tape to protect this from the weather so I sprayed it with clear-coat.

This information is on the top of the lid because the ballistics information will come in handy at random times. The only two pieces of information that are critical are that he "zero" the gun to hit 2" high at 100 yards.  The other piece of information is the number of clicks to come up at 300, 350 and 400 yards.

Range estimation

Josh needs a laser range finder.

I recently read an account of the owner of a gun shop (in Wyoming, I believe) who sold a boat load of range finders.  He would ask his customers -practiced and experienced outdoorsmen- to estimate the range to the flag pole in the center of town.  The majority of the estimates were between 600 and 800 yards.

Bear in mind that this was ground these people had walk many, many times.  Bear in mind that there were usually pedestrians walking about the town square providing a very solid reference size.

The owner of the gun shop would hand the outdoorsmen a range finder and they would laser it at 325 yards.  Many did not believe the number.  The owner would suggest that they pace it off.

He sold a lot of range finders.

Nothing new under the sun

This is not a new phenomena.  Sportswriters in the 1920s and 1930s wrote reams of stories with lines like, "I saw the flock of six mountain goats a half mile climbing up the mountain.  The head of the harem was a monster.  I drew a coarse bead on the leader, holding 3 feet above his back and touched off  'Ol Betsy'.  The goat slid 200 yards down the mountain."

At a half mile the front sight of 'Ol Betsy' would have covered the entire flock of five goats.  There was not three feet of hold over and no half mile shot.

Experienced, steely-eyed Wyoming hunters cannot estimate range.  Sportswriters from the '20s and '30s could not estimate range.  That tells me that Josh needs a range finder.  Even if he is shooting a 270 Winchester.

My guess is that he will never see a coyote beyond 300 yards.  After lasering enough coyotes he will figure out that he just needs to hold in the center of the hair and s-q-u-e-e-z-e.