Yesterday went so well that I forgot to post just how nice it was in lieu of my base pin hanging up and causing me grief.
I got off shift at 0630, as usual, and slept in a little. I got some coffee and hung out at the EMS office and got to catch up with some folks who I don't often see anymore since being quartered at an outlying fire station. Nice to see them all, and even though I wasn't on duty, I helped them prepare some IV start kits.
I got a call from my new friend Al, who is a retired LEO from Dekalb Co.; we had planned on shooting down at the range at Charlie Elliot wildlife preserve.
I headed over there and had soem time ot kill before Al got there, so I "nosed around the property", about 6400 acres. It's a WMA, (wildlife management area,) and legal to hunt for certain dates, and since turkey season is coming, and I want to hunt hog, this was the perfect opportunity to scout by truck. I drove the roads looking for signs of hog activity but found none though the lady at the visitor's center told me they were on the back end of the property. (Guess I'll have to go on foot and check the low areas later,) It was nice to roll down dirt roads through lots of woods and listen to bluegrass on XM radio. Good stuff!
I saw two groups of turkeys, one had 12 hens and a great big tom, and the other was a group of jakes. I marked on the map where I had seen them.
All called so I headed to the range to meet him. They have a covered outdoor pistol and rifle range, each being separate. We chatted with the range officer, an Officer White of the DNR. Nice fellow.
I was directed to read the rules of the range and did so, while he pointed out a few of the more common mistakes people make. At any rate, Al had brought a bag of small boxes for targets so we cleared the range and set them out. I put out an NRA slow-fire 50ft target to check the accuracy of the LSWC I had loaded.
I got a group of 2" at 20ft, though the first four were touching and the last two I choked on. So I am pleased with this light load. (158grLSWCHP over 11.5gr of 2400,) No leading occured after 25 of these swaged bullets, and the accuracy was superb.
I shot 15 160gr RN over 14.5gr of 2400 and got another noce 2" group.
I shot 10 158gr RN over 14.5gr of 2400 and got pretty much te same results.
After that, Al and I shot the boxes, sending them flying every which way. I got to shoot Al's model 36 Glock in .45 for a while, and he got to shoot my Ruger BH. He hadn't shot a revolver in years but liked it still. (He likes the bottom-feeders,)
A fellow came over and wanted to see my gun up close because he had bought the same thing in 41 magnum. I let him shoot a cylinder of the 158gr bullets, and told him they were considerably reduced. He said he was going ot start reloading fr his, and asked a few questions. He was very interested in a plinking load and the 125grJHP I use for defense and was going to try and load something similar for his 41 mag.
Nice guy.
We basically spent a couple hours at a nice range with a few great guys just shooting and jabberjawing, lots of laughs on a beautiful and warm afternoon. It was around 68-70 -just right.
We stopped at a little diner Al knew of and had fried pork chops, boiled cabbage and potatoes with a glass of the best lemonade I've had in a long time and then headed to Al's house to clean the guns.
My wife works with Al's wife Bonnie and we had arranged that tonight was the night for me to cook fried chicken in round one of the "Bonnie and Scott Fried-Chicken Contest".
Al and I cleaned our pieces, and I eneded up completely disassembling my BH to find out why the transfer bar was hanging up. The good thing is that while it was apart, I got to clean all of the grit and old oil that had accumulated since 1973, as I'm sure this gun had never been stripped and cleaned. I also adjusted the trigger spring properly, and then reassembled it all. The transfer bar was still hanging up, but the gun's lockwork functioned so slickly that I had to marvel at what some basic maintenance can do.
Al couldn't believe I could strip a gun and reassemble it without having the manual in front of me, but I told him it was simple: they come out in a certain order, and go back in in reverse order. Easy, peasy, Japanesy.
Al made some frozen whiskey sours, and we cut up the chickens. Bonnie got home around 6:30, and my wife and daughter shortly afterwards. Bonnie and Al's daughter-in-law came over with the 8 mo old granddaughter and we began cooking. So we go to have a nice dinner with some great folks and I even got to play with a little baby for a while.
A very nice day indeed.
