I am a dirt-person

Yesterday was a productive day.

I put in three hours wrapping trunks of young fruit trees with news paper (Epoch Times) to protect them against rabbits.

Picture showing roots of MM106 whip that is going into the new stool-bed. Click on the image to embiggen it.

 

Stool-bed after the transplants were heavily watered to settle the dirt. The whips are supported with bamboo stakes. A branch from a Golden Russet is photo-bombing from the row on the right.

I transplanted seven of the MM106 rootstock to create a stool bed to produce rootstock in the future. If the academic literature can be trusted, one, rooted "whip" for every 50mm or 2" of stool-bed row is a good working number for MM106. The fifty or sixty whips I might get from ten feet of row (per year) should be enough to scratch my itch to propagate trees. It may take a few years to get to that level of production, but I can wait.

I am happiest when I can get my hands dirty. 

Chrony results

The first shot over the screens produced an error.

I finessed the alignment of the setup. The next three shots read 2621fps, 2591fps and 2616fps. 

Accuracy is relative. Accuracy that is not good enough to hit prairie-dogs in the head at 400 yards can be adequate for larger targets that are closer. The numbers posted in the earlier paragraph are plenty-good-enough (at first blush) for ranges of less than 200 yards against animals with heart-lung areas that are larger than a paper plate.

Perhaps shots over 200 yards are common "out west", but here in the crowded eastern states, parcels are small and longish shots run the risk of having the animal run off the property and potentially across land you don't have permission to cross. It is very rare for me to consider attempting a shot longer than 120 yards.

How much ammo?

James Wesley Rawles suggests that 600 rounds per centerfire rifle and six magazines is a good starting point. It should be disclosed that JWR is a hard-core prepper and coined the phrase "Golden Horde" to describe the wave of angry, hungry, violent people that might sweep across rural areas if/when the SHTF. Likely, his recommendations are among the higher ones.

Of course, there are those who claim you only need a can of pepper-spray to deter a home-invasion so you don't need any ammo. Others will state that unless you are on-fire or swimming, it is impossible to have too much ammo.

One consideration that should be talked about is that significant amounts of ammo must be consumed to make your firearm a seamless extension of your will. How many repetitions does a fisherman make casting with his lure? How many times does a batter have to swing at a curve-ball? You want to be able to handle your weapon with as little conscious thought (regarding the mechanics) as you use to scratch your nose. You want to reserve all of your brain-power for THREAT/NOTHREAT, downrange damages, where-are-all-the-kids questions.

The manual-of-arms matters. I cut my teeth on a single-shot shotgun. The hammer was the safety. To shoot, I raised the shotgun to my shoulder while pulling the hammer back. When I had the "picture" I desired, I pulled the trigger.

The next step up for me was a Mossberg 500 shotgun. The safety is in exactly the same place as the hammer (on the tang) and it is released to make the weapon fireable by pushing the safety FORWARD. I report with absolutely no embarrassment that it took me a long time to stop instinctively putting that Mossy pump gun on "safe" as I raised it to my shoulder by pulling it back just like I pulled back the hammer.

There are several lessons here. If you are fortunate enough to have several weapons, it is desirable that they share a common manual-of-arms. Then practice from "pull it out of the scabbard/holster" to "reload" often enough so you can do it while half-asleep. If you live in a place that tolerates it, hunting chipmunks is a good way to get the repetitions. You will get lots of high-quality repetitions and you can use a .22 which is inexpensive ammo.

Another consideration that is particularly relevant to semi-automatic handguns is that you need to run enough rounds of your defensive ammo through it to ensure that it feeds and ejects flawlessly. Some writers recommend 200 rounds without a bobble. 

Why are handguns more sensitive to ammo than long-guns? Because the geometry in handguns is more compressed. The angles are more oblique. The rounds they fire are smaller and consequently the amount of energy/momentum is less and needs to be budgeted. The platform is gripped by hands rather than backstopped by the shoulder. They get carried more and pick up more grit and dust. The reasons are many. Semi-auto handguns are inherently fussier about ammo than virtually any other platform. 

So there you have it, you probably don't need 600 rounds of centerfire ammo per weapon and can get by with much less. 

Videos that I am watching

Wartime Kitchen and Garden videos. 

Today's docket

I will have lunch with an old friend whose wife has dementia.

I have been avoiding social engagements due to my dental issue but I will make an exception for him.

He is an Extrovert (with a capital "E") and is energized by contact with people.

Caring for an ailing spouse makes contacting people much, much more difficult. Furthermore, the person you are closest to, your spouse, is not able to interact with you in the same kinds of ways.

The diagnosis and progression of his wife's disease has been very, very hard on him. It is emotionally devastating and he is wilting because contact with people is his oxygen and he isn't getting enough.