The black dot is the size of a penny, roughly 3/4".
2" high at 100 yards is about a 150 yard "zero" for a .350 Legend with a 165 grain Flex-tip pushed by 26.5 grains of H-110.
Pruning
After sighting in, I used the pole saw to prune some fruit trees in the orchard. I am putting a boat-load of wood on the ground. I drained the 6.0 A-Hr battery down to one bar before I called it a day.
I went to Google Maps today and determined that the largest orchard at The Property is a smidgen less than one acre.
Opening day (Friday, 11/15/2024)
 |
| Peak wind velocity of 14mph mid-afternoon Sunday. That means gusts to 25 mph |
The current plan looks like almost a full-house. I expect 4 hunters on Friday and 3 on Saturday.
The Property can comfortably seat five hunters. There are 2 elevated, enclosed stands that hold 2 people each and there is a tree stand that is a one-holer for the folks that eat chili the night before or who are anti-social.
I will not be hunting on Sunday but otherwise, blogging will be light.
Dryers
I found a free electric dryer beside the road.
I don't pretend to be an expert on fixing dryers but I believe that most "free" dryers are free for a reason.
It is my personal opinion that the heating element is the item that is the most likely to fail. It is easy to check with a multimeter and replacement parts run about $35. That is an inexpensive dryer.
The next part that is "consumable" is the belt that turns the drum.
The last part that is likely to puke is the mother-board. Those, unfortunately, are not universal parts and tend to cost several hundred dollars. If it is a mother-board problem, it is probably worth disassembling for the motor and drum an wires.
.410 and 28 gauge slugs
I recall reading an essay about hunting squirrels with a .32 muzzle loader by Junior Doughty. One of Junior's neighbors had large aggressive dogs and Junior noted that if things got sporty, the slow-to-reload, dinky-roundballs were not the best choice for repelling a pack of aggressive, 90 pound pitty-crosses.
The same could be said of a .410 or 28 gauge shotgun loaded with #8 birdshot. Not the best choice. However, modern shotguns have advantages over muzzleloaders. It isn't a big deal to stuff a better choice into your scatter-gun if you run into some sporty territory...if you have the better stuff in the pocket of your shooting vest.
As a public service, I am going to list four loads from the Ballistic Products Slug Loading Handbook.
.410
2-1/2" Cheddite Hull and Cheddite Primer. 1/4 oz (127gr) ThugSlug. 20gr Hodgdon Lil'Gun. Roll crimp. 1750 fps.
2-1/2" Cheddite Hull and Cheddite Primer. 93gr Light Game Slug. 12gr of Hodgdon Longshot power. Roll Crimp. 1775 fps.
28 Gauge
2-3/4" Cheddite Hull and Cheddite Primer. 290gr Thug Slug. 18.5gr of Hodgdon Longshot power. Roll Crimp. 1470 fps.
2-3/4" Cheddite Hull and Cheddite Primer. 194gr Light Game Slug. 26gr of Hodgdon Longshot power. Roll Crimp. 1950 fps.
You might notice that the links all lead back to Ballistic Products webpages.
The reason for that is that this data is from Ballistic Products and the least I can do is to make it easy for you to buy your hulls and some of your reloading components from them.
Three of the four loads use Longshot. Do not, DO NOT, DO NOT substitute Longshot for Lil' Gun in the first load listed!
As always, this was posted for entertainment purposes. If this is something you are interested in doing, buy the book. The interaction between your barrel's choke and the slug can be a very big thing, to the disadvantage of your barrel. So buyer beware.
Old dryers are a great receptacle for bullet holes of all calibers if you have a place where you can do that. Then off to the metal recycle place when you have squeezed the last bit of fun out of it. Remember, recycle responsibly.
ReplyDeleteWe had a dryer fail a fourth way with a dryer fire. We were home and it was contained to the dryer. Disassembly was the easiest way to remove it. (almost all the weight is a chunk of concrete in the base). I own a fancy Solo stove fire pit but the fire pit I made out of the drum of that dryer was almost ,95% almost as good for free. I am looking for a dryer drum to set up my brother. Best red neck fire pit around.
ReplyDeleteCONSIDERABLE sanctification was lost in an attempt to replace the heating element in our prior dryer, hence the appelation 'prior'.
ReplyDeleteAnd the current resident of that real estate will send momma a text when it's ministry of hot air is complete.
Something ELSE to fail in the woods,
A little East of Paris
( but momma likes it ...)
If the need for .410 slugs is just in case or very sporadic, maybe some of the factory 'personal defense' loads sold by Winchester and Hornady may be good enough. I'm just suggesting as an alternative.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy carrying the .410 single shot as a woods roamer (rarely shot, mostly carried just to be armed) and the number of times I've had to defend myself can be counted using two fingers. A possibly rabid skunk and a very mangy coyote that wasn't acting their natural self.
Both were put down with a single shot at less than 10 yard distances. Both animals gave me ample time to replace the shell with another more effective load. Which I did not have anyway which is why this topic interests me. A .410 rifle load (single slug) would be a nice option to keep on person.
Looking at the ballistics, a .410 slug (either ball or Thugslug) is similar to a .357 Magnum out of a long-barreled handgun and the .28 gauge is similar to a .44 Magnum.
DeleteGlad you got the pole saw! Considerably more productive than a stand to move and loppers, ain't it?
ReplyDelete