wwillson

Ballistic Products is going to test these loads and let me know what they find. Another member at our trap club said that it's because Universal is a double base powder and burns too hot for these wads. Wayne

My mother was driving to town just south of Shell Rock, IA about 3 years ago and saw a mountain lion cross the road in front of her. She called her brother, who is a biologist for the Iowa DNR, and asked if it could be, or was she seeing things. He assured her that what she saw was real and that mountain lions have been in Iowa for a while dinning on tasty deer. Sure would be neat to have one mounted on your wall!

Update: I called Ballistic Products, who is the exclusive domestic distributor for Helarco. They said that the slitter sometimes just doesn't cut completely. Their ballistician said that he didn't think the petals not opening would effect the pattern much. The think and much parts worry me. Am I over analyzing?

If that doesn't give you the itch to hunt, then nothing will! In all the deer hunting I done, never saw anything like that!

Yeah, had my finger been 1/2" farther in the hole, it would have broken and crushed the joint. I'm darn lucky it only cut the end off! There is a good side to almost everything. Wayne

Seriously... I was helping my neighbor hang drywall when a piece that I holding slipped and fell. My finger was sticking through a cutout for an electrical box so the falling drywall was like a finger guillotine. It cut off the end if the finger about half way up the nail and broke the end off the bone. It wasn't completely severed, so the doctor was able to stitch it back on without much trouble. The doctor said I will probably get most of the feeling back in the pad, which is my biggest concern with shooting. ouch!

It says on the website that "Leupold did not assume the Redfield warranty", which means if you have a problem with a Redfield scope, call someone else as Leupold won't help you. That's pretty disappointing. Wayne

I don't see any bare ammo shelves around here anymore. just last May/June most stores were either out or extremely short of supply. Wayne

I'm getting a collection of boxes guns are packaged in when purchased new. I've never used a single one for anything, other than to collect dust. I have always kept them just in case I sold or needed to ship the gun. Is there any good reason to keep them? Wayne

All, I picked up seven of these Helarco VP-60 wads that I had just shot at the club this weekend. There was a fresh layer of snow and I was the first shooter, so I know they were my wads. I was surprised to see that four of the seven had petals that had not separated. This has to be very detrimental to the shot pattern. I imagine that the wad would immediately yaw in the direction of the separated petals? Would this have an effect of scattering the shot? Maybe that's why I had such a hard time (12 broken targets out of 25) at 27 yards? These are the same wads that were pierced in this post. Nothing like having about everything working again you! Wayne

All, I picked up seven of these Helarco VP-60 wads that I had just shot. There was a fresh layer of snow and I was the first shooter, so I know they were my wads. Much to my surprise, six of the seven had pierced gas seal domes. Two of the seven had clearly also pierced the bottom of the wad cup, leaking hot gas into the shot column. These are steel trap loads using published data for Hodgdon Universal Clays. Why are the gas seal domes being pierced? Many of us use the same wads at the club and I often can hear that the muzzle report is not consistent from same shooters on my squad. I think this is a pretty clear explanation of why one shooters gun can sound normal on one shot and weak on the next. Strange and I have no idea why these wads would do this. Wayne

I've never had this happen before, but have seen it a couple times. Yesterday I pulled the hull out and noticed that it felt different. When I looked at it I was surprised to see half of the hull was missing. I found the rest of the hull about 20' in front of my position. Do hulls tear like this simply by chance, or did I do something to damage the hull while it was being loaded? Wayne

I found these printable targets online. I'm not sure if they accurately show why your hits land other than where you intended. Does anyone use targets like this? They could be a very useful training tool if they properly depict technique problems. Wayne

It's been a couple months since I switched form shooting trap with one eye to two eyes. My average immediately dropped by about 7 targets per 25 - ouch. Many variables were changed during this time other than just shooting with two eyes, which probably wasn't a great idea. A new trap stock and forearm, new sear spring, new hold points, new stance, etc. I've been shooting as much as I can lately to try to figure out what works for me. Today I averaged 22 (21, 22, and 23) over three rounds. I finally feel that if I practice with what I've figured out works for me, I can bring the average up. Before I was just trying to figure out what might work, which can be a struggle. I think the single hardest thing for me to figure out was to wait until the front bead meets the target. Shooting with two eyes gives you the ability to see and track the target SO much quicker, that I tended to jerk the gun and pull the trigger to fast. I think it's a mental thing that since you see the target better your brain says, "quick you've got to get to the target and pull the trigger!". When I finally worked on being smoother and not jerking to the target, it all came together. Thanks to Bill I. at the club for working with me and being patient! Wayne

Muzzle loading shotguns are even more of an anomaly to me. Thanks for the picture - gives me something else to ponder. Wayne

RLH70, Does the breech open on this shotgun, or is it fixed? Wayne

Now that's some funny stuff!

I'm seeing more around here too. I think the panic may be starting to end. Wayne

I'll give it a shot. The static isn't too bad yet, but when it gets cold and the air is dry in January you'll get shocked all the time. Wayne

ecco priming compound? I'm assuming it's a new priming compound that has no lead or mercury? Wayne

Has anyone seen or fired one? I really didn't even know they existed, although I'd think standard hulls could be loaded with black powder if you had a recipe. Wayne

All, Loading 9mm this weekend for the first time. I'm finding that Hodgdon Clays doesn't meter well through the Hornady powder measure on the Lock-n-Load AP. I have Hodgdon Universal Clays on hand and wonder if anyone has metered Universal through the Hornady powder measure? Universal is much smaller and I would guess that it would measure better easier than Clays. Thoughts? Wayne

The venerable Ruger 10/22 best value in any .22LR I've ever owned. Wayne

Ken IS obviously a nut. He's a good man. Wayne

Rugerman, I always wondered about you...! Some day I'll have cool stuff like that too. Wayne