One day does not a weekend make

It was a rough Saturday at work. I wanted to make the Indy1500 show today, but I couldn't pry myself out of bed. A little extra sleep and I feel a whole lot better. Still haven't been able to get to the range with my newest toy. Maybe next weekend. Did my grocery shopping today as the fridge was empty. Stopped at the magazine rack as I usually do. I discovered my club made the winter addition of " Guns of the old west" magazine. The last few years, the NCOWS have rented out our club to have their National match in June. They rent it out for a week and the club members are welcome to join in or just observe. It is really something to see. They set up an encampment reminiscent of the era. They are all in western garb  and live in the old fashioned type of tents. They usually have stores set up as well that are fun to check out. I will have to take some pictures of it this year and post them. All the buildings seen in the mag of cowboy town were built by club members from supplies donated by club members. It was odd stumbling on pictures in a magazine of the club. Have to let Rob at the club know it is in this edition in case club members want a copy. Hope to make it back down to Whittaker's this week if they don't have me on tens all week. Want to pick up that lever action I was checking out when I picked up the M1A the week before last. I am pretty sure I will trade in the Rossi I am not too impressed with towards it's purchase..

Yeah, it's freakin snowing

Moved down here from the Chicago area (Indiana side of the line, not the commie side) and I still can't believe it. They don't have a clue about road care. My coworkers like to compare how in Chicago you get snow, but down here you get ice. What they fail to understand is, up north you get snow AND ice. The big difference is up north they had the God given sense to salt and prep for bad weather. Down here I guess the logic is God put it there, we will patiently wait for Him to remove it. It took thirty five minutes to drive home from work which is only ten minutes away. In the four miles from work to home I passed six vehicles down in the ditches that border most of the roadways down here. One clueless individual, apparently suicidal, got out of the car he put in the ditch while going down hill and popped up on the roadway while I was going down hill. Lucky for him the other side of road was vacant as I could not stop on the ice that put him in the ditch in the first place. Hopefully today's little flurry thinned out some of the not so brights. I can't fault him for going down into the ditch as the roads were icy, but to hop up onto the road with traffic sliding down the hill heading to a tunnel in the dark, not so bright. He was in luck as the tow truck behind me was able to stop and give aide. I do wish these people would get a clue and salt the roads before the temps get so low it does no good. Have to work Saturday. Hoping Sunday is decent out as I would like to hit the Indy 1500 gun show if roadways aren't heinous. New year is off to a bang. Working sixty plus hours a week so far. Hope it keeps up for a while. Rather work the extra hours while it is cold out than summer time.

Almost missed light a candle day.

I must be living under a rock. I guess the nimrods that are against the second amendment picked today as light a candle day against gun violence. Not violence, gun violence. If only they would wake up and look at reality. Chicago has the highest crime rate in the nation, but the strongest gun control. Perhaps we could be like Mexico where guns are illegal. Wait a minute, their crime rate is through the roof as well. It is also ironic that wherever carry permits are allowed, the crime rate falls. Maybe because the criminals know that there is a possibility their target may shoot back. I firmly believe that places such as Chicago that have politicians that are against guns, should have in place a ruling. It is quite simple. If the people are to be denied their constitutional right to bear arms, so shall the politicians in that local. If Daly and the other parasites that oppose firearms were denied the ability to carry and denied armed body guards, their views may be slightly different than they are at present.If gun control reduces violence, Chicago would not be the cesspool it is today. If they truly had facts on their side, Holder would not have to had played games like fast and furious to try and give anti gun groups the edge they need to support their stance. Any how, Here is my candle to add to the others.

Whittaker trip

Woke up bright and early, and headed over to Whittakers to pick up my M1A. It's about a 45 minute trip, but it is through Kentucky, which is always a nice scenic trip. I stayed to check out the inventory, which is huge. I saw an Uberti remake of the  1866 Henry carbine. Absolutely beautiful. The action is unbelievably smooth and the finish is outstanding. The action is by far, better than the Henry rifles, as I tried them side by side. I believe it will be going on my shopping list for somewhere down the road. Might take my Rossi in, that I am not impressed with, and work out a trade.

I was really happy when I picked up the M1A, as it has all the papers, the box, 1 magazine and has the M14 stock. Picked up some match ammo for it and a reloading manual while I was there. Stocked up on some cleaning supplies while I was at it.

Really like my dillon reloader. It works nice and smooth. Beats having to hand prime and manually measure powder.

Ready for the weekend.........

I found my M1A at last.  I always check the web page for Whittaker gun shop in Owenboro to check on what cool things they may have for sale. I found a M1A for under a grand. It is used, but in as new condition.  Even the cheap Chinese knock offs go for more than that. Working overtime all week trying to catch up on work, so I have to wait until Saturday to pick it up. Suppose to be almost 60 degrees tomorrow and the next day. I can't believe it's still warm in January. Pick up the gun and then it is off to the range to try it out. The reloads worked well last weekend, so I will play around in cowboy town as well. Only one more long day to go.

Plenty of room

Went to the range to try out some of the rounds I loaded yesterday and had the whole club to myself. A little snow blowing around and 29 degree weather, everyone stayed home. Hope to get several hundred rounds loaded this week. Want to load some .357 as well to try in the lever action to see if they feed better. The dillon is nice. I had a Lee press that didn't have the primer feed or the powder feed, so I had to hand prime and fill the cases. This press is great. The only thing that would have been better is if it had the auto index feature like the square deal does, but the square deal only does pistol rounds. Suppose to be back up in the 50's again by the weekend, so probably be turning some of the reloads back to brass again.

dillon is up and running....Yeah

Finally got out the drill, saw and some wood and mounted the dillon 550B up on my reloading bench. I drilled holes in the bench and put threaded steel inserts in from underneath so I can just bolt the piece of plywood I mounted the press on  down to the bench with four bolts. When I am done, I can unbolt it and safely store it out of the way on the lower shelf of the bench. That gives me room to use the top for cleaning the firearms or just miscellaneous use. I ran some .38 off for cowboy town. Tomorrow I will adjust it and do some .357 magnum to try in the rifle to see if it functions better with that.

 I want to order a die plate from e-bay for it. Somebody used their head and made a die plate that is  .125 thinner than it's slot and gives a .125 shim with it. This way you can set up for .38 and just by putting the shim on the other side and adjusting the powder drop, you are off and running on .357 in minutes. Plus you only need one set of dies and you don't need to keep adjusting height to do the two rounds. Pretty slick idea.

Want to head to range and try some of the rounds out in the morning if the weather permits. If all goes well, I have a thousand bullets and plenty of brass and primers. Spend most of the evenings this week making ammo. Last day of vacation tomorrow so have to make the most of it.