Decent day

Went to the club and checked in. They had enough help for the shoots, so I was able to head down to the range. Played around in cowboy town some more. They had a cowboy shoot yesterday so there were alot more targets placed about. Put a few hundred rounds down range and then headed over to the rifle range for a while. Played around with the 1911 for a while.  Hit Coldstone ice cream on the way home. It was a nice day off. Rain held out until I got home. 

It's the weekend....Yaaay

Finished up today. Managed to get their hot job done in time and the next one set up and going. Day went very well. No distractions on Saturdays. It is rather peaceful and your not bothered so you generally can get alot done. After work I visited my local gun store. Owner is a member of the club and it's always fun to sit and chat with him for a while. Did a little horse trading. I am going to be trading my .357 I won at the NRA event in on a new 550B dillon loading press. Christmas comes early this year. I picked up some more ammo for cowboy town. I want to get up early tomorrow and send some lead down range before the spot shoots start up. Have not heard from my buddy at work yet as to whether or not we are going to get together to shoot tomorrow. He is bringing his wife out for a while. It's always more fun when you have people to shoot with. He bought her a .22 pistol to carry. I tried talking him into a heavier caliber. People automatically think women can't shoot anything but small caliber guns. I will take a variety of my handguns out and hopefully she can try out some different calibers and see which ones she feels comfortable with. I don't consider a .22 protection, that is a plinker. I have a 9mm that she might like. I will have my browning .380 as well as a couple .38 revolvers she can try. My glock is a .45,which is my carry, and it doesn't kick bad at all. I figured for being a light gun, it would kick harder than it does.Figure she can try that as well.  People seem to think women can't shoot. They need to come out to the spot shoots and watch the women that come out to all the spot shoots and walk away with alot of the prizes.

Almost the weekend

One more day. They managed to get the other CNC ID grinder going and mine got jealous the other one got all the attention, so it ate the B axis servo motor. I found much like the others that blew after the full rebuild a year ago, the outfit that wired it used a grommet that was too big for the cable they used, so once again water got in and water and electricity just don't mix well. I lucked out big time. The machine has two more months on warranty so the cable and motor are free. We also lucked out and the motor blew with the machine bed at the zero angle so I can grind faces and just have to interpolate all the grind angles until new parts get here.  I manage to get the machine going again, though it still remains wounded, and the other CNC ID blows the spindle motor, so we are back down to my CNC ID doing it all. Thus, I get to work tomorrow instead of going to the range. Oh well, more money.

The spot shoots start Sunday at the club. Figure I can help hang targets. It's nice and cool outside, so it should be a pleasant time. They supply free soup, coffee and beer to the workers so it's a pretty good deal. It's a chance to win some money or meat prizes as well. Suppose to meet up with one of the guys from work and his wife to shoot for a little while too. Have to try and hit the gun store tomorrow and pick up some more ammo and see if my supplies I ordered came in yet. Drool over the dillon press while I am there. Hope to buy myself one for Christmas this year.

Back to work

First day back after a vacation always seems a couple days long. Takes a few days just to undo damage done while gone.Naturally everything is hot and needs done by last week if not sooner. Our other CNC ID grinder went down again, so that leaves everything going through my machines. Wouldn't be so bad if they were organized and would stick to a schedule. I lost a couple hours today while they decided which hot job was the hottest.If they were a little more decisive, the machine would have been set back up and going on the next job.

 Did get some good news when I got home. The ATF cashed my check for my Curio and Relic license, so I know they have it and are starting to process it. I am hoping to have it for the machine gun shoot in October. I can almost smell the gunpowder already. Hopefully it is dry enough at this one I can park close. Spring shoot I had to street park which took a lot of looping around waiting and looking for an opening. Spring shoot is usually really wet. This year the four wheelers were getting stuck in the mess. I will check on the garrand ammo while I am there, but I am set through the CMP to order direct from them and they have the good stuff back in stock again. But I still check. Last year I bought some for less than I could get it through the CMP. The CMP also did away with their limit last I checked.

Picnic

The clubs 75th anniversary picnic went great. They had a ton of people show up. They had a silent auction with gun and bow accessories, clothing and other odds and ends. The kids were having a blast on the hayride. They hooked up a long trailer to on of the tractors and took them around the club grounds and through the acreage the club bought next door. There were hot dogs, hamburgers, brats and many side dishes. It really turned out well. I will head back tomorrow to try the Rossi again. They had the rifle range down while the hay rides were going on. The weather was decent, but crazy. Kinda like Florida weather. It started to pour when I arrived at the club. Five minutes later the sun was back out and you couldn't tell it rained. It repeated cycle a couple times, but the food is under a roof along with the picnic tables and most of the grounds have big trees that shield most of the rain anyway, so all was good. They set up a petting zoo for the kids and had a fishing contest. All in all it was a great day. Back to work tomorrow though.Six day week coming up, fun fun fun...

Back to the drawing board

Went back to range to test lever action. Still doesn't feed worth anything. I also shot the .357 LCR  pistol I won a while back. I believe both guns are making a one way trip to Whitakers and I will bring back something different. Revolver is just too small for my hands. Can't beat it for free, but it is just a poor fit. I already have a snub .357  of my dad's anyway, so it is redundant. Did kick around cowboy town some more. Played with the shotguns today as well. Played til we ran out of ammo and had to come home. Ran out of daylight too, so it was perfect timing. Pretty nice day. Tomorrow is the picnic at the club. Bad timing as far as the date. September 11th is the clubs 75th anniversary. Figure I will go help out for a while. Suppose to go on most of the day with games and contests for the kiddies.

Lever Guns

Lever guns are a pain to get back together. Broke the Rossi down all the way so I could polish the carrier and deburr some of the areas I could see were rough. What a mess... The carrier along with several other components had a rougher finish than a wrought iron fence. The channel in the receiver for the locking bolt on one side was machined poorly. You could see what appeared to be where a mill had dug in and undercut in a couple spots. Burrs were left on everything. The carrier had rough bumps sticking up and the finish was rough cast. I did a little polishing on the carrier with the dremel and reblued the metal before reassembly. Deburred everything the best I could. Not impressed with the quality of their products. Can't really do anything where the mill marks are other than polishing it up a bit and rounding the sharp edges to prevent galling of the lock bolts. If it still gives me grief it will be getting traded on a winchester version. I have a 30-30 winchester I like and the quality is far better. Unfortunately, Indiana won't let you deer hunt with anything other than a pistol caliber rifle and cowboy town won't let you shoot anything but pistol caliber either, so , I will probably replace it with another .357.  They aren't bad tearing down, but lining everything back up to go back together is a pain. Wouldn't have been as bad had I not put it back together and found a piece I left out. To put it in, I had to knock the pins out and tear it all the way back down again. The action is a lot smoother now, but the snap caps are showing it still has a slight feed problem. They are now coming off the carrier smooth, so that area is no longer a problem. Now they hang a little at the two notches in the receiver where the lip of the bullet passes through. May have to take it down one more time to try and smooth out that area. There is a rough patch in there that I can try and smooth out, but as thin as the material is in that area, I am almost afraid to try and polish it out. Think I will head out to the club and try it out and see how much it improved and hopefully play with the garrand for a little while. Still have some daylight left.

Cowboy town

Went to the club today to play around at cowboy town. Took my brother's black powder open top revolver out for some smokey fun. Definitely makes you appreciate what they went through in the old pioneer days. Couldn't imagine trying to reload that thing while under fire. It is a fun shoot at the range though. Was having trouble with the percussion caps. Wound up the problem is I didn't follow guy rule number one. We never read directions. I was using #11 caps that were called out in the directions which just about fall off. After some frustration, I went to the gun store down the road and took the revolver in to see what he suggests. He says #11 caps are for rifles, revolvers use a #10 cap. Tried the #10 caps and problem solved. First time shooting black powder. Man is it smokey. I shot four of the six targets I was going for and couldn't see the last two through the cloud. If you are shooting slow, it isn't bad, but if you go for speed, you can't see. It is a fun gun to play with though.

Tried my Rossi lever gun again. Ready to turn it into kindling. It keeps flipping loaded rounds and either throwing them on the ground or jamming in the action. Only shot a little over half of whatever I loaded and flipped the rest on the ground. Weekend looks pretty busy. The club is celebrating their 75th anniversary. Unfortunately it falls on September 11th. They are planning a family picnic. Figure I can go give a hand, and maybe scarf down some grub while I am there. Still need to play at the rifle range. It started raining too heavy to go there after cowboy town. Cowboy town is pretty rain proof. You can go to one of the areas that is a building you shoot out of with tables inside for staging your gear. The targets reset themselves so you literally don't have to worry about weather at all. It was a great time. Hit the Coldstone on the way home for some ice cream for later. Have chicken in the oven and guns on table ready for cleaning. Didn't work on the mustang during vacation, but still had a great time. Any time away from work is good. Take the dog in for his recheck tomorrow. He seems to have pretty much recovered thankfully. Is getting around well and I am having a hard time even trying to keep him from jumping on furniture and running around. But that is good, it means he feels better.

Day trip

Day started with a trip to the Bass Pro. Not a Cabela's, but better than most sport stores. Looked at what few guns they had and picked up some cleaning supplies. They did have a couple of nice hard double rifle cases that were built nice and solid. Wandered around and checked out the store for a while, then off to the Patton Museum.

I got a picture of his Ivory handled revolver (not to be confused with pearl handled : )  )

 

Most of the museum is closed for renovation and expansion. What they had was very interesting. They have lots of artifacts from his childhood on up to his demise. They are suppose to reopen the whole museum in either 2013 or2014. I didn't realize how close it is to Knob Creek where they hold the machine gun shoots. Speaking of which, the fall ones are right around the corner already. October 14 through the 16th. Was going to hit the Louisville zoo while in the area, but the weather was pretty lousy. Can't decide whether I want to go to the range tomorrow, or head down to Marengo caves for a little exploring. May try and fit both in , who knows. Have to see how the weather is and let it be the deciding factor. Dog seems to be doing much better than yesterday. Still not ready for the races, but able to walk and not shaking in pain. Tail is vertical again and wagging, so that is a good sign.

Vet day today

Was planning on a fun getaway today,but the dog strained his back yesterday and was in alot of pain. We spent the day at the vets and, thankfully, the x-rays came in clean. They said he just strained his back and I need to keep mister hyper from jumping up on the couch and running around for a while. Might have to see if they make dog size straight jackets as my dog is either napping or going full throttle. They gave him a shot and some doggy happy pills and he seems to be doing much better for the time being. If he is doing well in the morning, I may slip out and do a few fun things on my list. Hopefully the pills help temporarily calm him down and he will sleep most of the day. His tails up and he seems to feel alot better. The girls at the vet know him on sight. He actually enjoys going there.

Vacation time

Finally put the rest of the shelving units up in the garage and organized the mess. I can actually find things now. It actually cooled off to the point you almost need a jacket outside. Hope to get the driveway sealed later on in the week. Remembered to pick up the sealer and an extra roller cover so now all I need is the ambition.

Made it down to the sheriffs office today and took care of the paper work for my C&R license. Came home and mailed it along with my check. It would be great to get it in time where I can take some papers along to the machine gun shoot in October. It will also be nice to be able to order the guns and have them sent right to my house instead of paying an ffl to handle it. I also took care of  the CMP paperwork so I can order my Garand ammo in bulk. Had the paperwork for a while now, but just never got around to taking it in to sheriffs office for approval.

Tomorrow will be the Patton museum , Bass Pro in Clarksville, and may drop off at the Louisville zoo as the weather is suppose to be nice. May shoot down to knob creek and check out the range while it is not in use for the machine gun shoot. They have a great gun shop in there.