Baby its Cold Out There

Due to unexplainable biological factors the Boston Terrier seems to be unable to perform certain, necessary body functions in the Great Outdoors.  Actual temperature was about 10, wind was 23 mph, wind chill was approximately -25 F.

He chose the gun safe as the target for his excrement.

Figures.  Boston is the most liberal city in the most liberal state in the Nation.

I do not like that dog, I do not.  But Kubota has bonded with him.

Time to investigate cat litter boxes.

Rabbit Hunting

One of the joys of living on 10 acres and being retired is I can reload 5 shotgun shells, pick up my shotgun and hunt rabbits.  The Lee Load-all is set up to drop 17 grains of Alliant Red Dot and 7/8 oz of #6 shot.  I add three black-eyed peas before I dump the shot to create a more acceptable crimp.

Footprint for optimum shell positioning on marked on base with black Sharpie.  Optimum crimp pattern, star point aligned with white mark, marked on pre-crimp detail with white paint pencil.

The hunting has not been all skittles and cream.  The snow is very crunchy and loud.  Most of the rabbits bust cover before I am in range.  7/8 oz of #6 out of a cylinder bored 12 gauge quickly runs out of pattern.

I am using my Go-to weapon, a Mossberg 500 with a Tasco Red-Dot sight (not related to powder).  A couple of interactions came into play.

• I was taking longer shots with the Red Dot scope.  Too long.  A case of more confidence than effective pattern
• Even the brightest setting on the scope washed out in the snow.  
• Batteries only seem to last 1/3 as long in the extreme (for Michigan) cold.  Good article HERE on batteries by Eastern Iowa Firearms Training.
  

  

  Spare battery between 1st & 2nd lace

  
  

• I had some failure-to-eject and failure-to-feed issues.  Too much frio and not enough brio. 
• The failure-to-feed issue was the shell not popping out of the magazine onto the elevator.  That bears investigation.
• The Mossberg was my dedicated slug gun for deer hunting.  We transitioned to a muzzleloader with old Mossy as backup.  I put lead shot in the butt stock because slugs kick.  I think it is time to take that shot out.

One of my personal weaknesses as a hunter is the tendency to turn into a spectator after the first shot.  There is some utility to doing this when deer hunting.  It is valuable to know where to look for the blood trail so you can recover the animal, reduce it to bag in the lingo.  The deer is usually accelerating and shots, after the first one, are low percentage shots.

It is a little different when hunting rabbits with a scatter-gun.  I had ample opportunities to flip off the safety, shoot, rack another round and shoot again.  It makes me a better shooter.

More shooting also floats "issues" into sight and that is the first step to resolving them.

I saw six rabbits but only shot one.  There are a boat load of rabbits out there!

Things that go "Bump in the Night"

Things that Go Bump in the Night

Three of my guilty pleasures are reading
-Survival Blog by James Wesley, Rawles
-Ol' Remus Woodpile Report
-Zero Hedge

One of the articles in Zero Hedge inspired this blog entry
Forget Neighborhood Watch, This is a Glock Block!

This is one scenario of things going "Bump in the Night"

What is accurate about this video is that the good guy gets only one hit in ten shots.  That is actually on the high side.  The hit rate for well trained Law Enforcement Officers is  one hit for every four shots.  After-action interviews often disclose that the shooter experienced extreme tunnel vision and sensory exclusion.  They were physically unable to the sights on the firearm.  The only thing they could see was the threat.  Another thing about this video that is accurate is the guy is closing his eyes while shooting.  He is scared of his weapon. What is not accurate about this video is the good lighting, the clarity of the bad guys actually being bad guys and the amount of time the home-owner has to retrieve his weapon.  It is very likely that some other family member will be the only one who can retrieve a weapon. So here is the first installment on the Eaton Rapids Joe approved tools to repel TTGBITN.  Your story does not need to end like the story shown in the Video.

Overview.  Mossberg 500 slug gun (shotgun) with three accessories.  Slug guns typically have shorter barrels that make them handy in tight quarters.  They are also outfitted with rifle type sights for precision shooting.

Only hits count.    Stack the deck so you lay 100% of the lead on the target.

If you get only one accessory...get a Red Dot scope and a suitable mount.  Mall Ninja's write reams about the dangers of "over-penetration".  I am here to tell you the best way to avoid  over-penetration is to make sure every shot hits your target.  That means you need a system that works in bad light and lays an aim point in the same focal plane as your target.  Remember, the after action interviews consistently show that the shooter was oblivious to the sights on the gun.

Sighting in with slugs at 20 yards.  The nail was the aim point.  Second shot skipped across top of firewood chunk.  Third shot is plenty good enough.  Note that longest cross-room shot in my house would be 30 feet ( 10 yards, half the sighting in distance)

Sissy pads are not for sissies.

Remember how the shooter in the video was afraid of his weapon?  Imagine his wife or daughter trying to shoot that gun.  Sissy pads are practical!  You just need to be a little careful that you do not make the firearm overly long for any of the home's potential users. This is a work in progress.  The sissy pad has not been ground to fit the contour of the scope.  The hard, red factory pad has been replaced with a Pachmayr "Decelerator" pad.  There are softer pads that are even more effective at reducing recoil, but I like the durability of the Pachmayr pads.

The lace-up cheek piece raises your line-of-sight to the height of the scope.  It is padded so it also reduces shooter anxiety about getting smacked by the stock.

A ziplock type baggie held in place with a rubber band makes a great see-through dust cover.  It also strips off easily without  requiring fine-motor skills

Key points:  This scope uses batteries.  Reset the brightness to zero.  Use a clear dust cover.  Honestly, the baggie and rubber band is the best system I have found.

Bonus Section:

After the shooting, what happens?
Box-O-Truth, how to fight with a Shotgun