Another hard winter is receding and the ice is gone from the bay here at Tale of Two Thirties Headquarters. Robins are hopping around the yard and chasing each other in the trees. We have a pair of nesting geese and a couple of mallards are napping on the bank. We are hoping for the crappies to show up soon. There is a promise of showers. The soil is still quite cold, however, so there are few signs of life in the yard and trees. We are a few weeks from wildflower bloom, especially since we are on the north side of a hill.
What is really on my mind is that there will be pleasant days ahead on the shooting range, and I need to make some plans for that. I want to put some good material on this site this year. There is no shortage of projects, but, which ones to do first and how to get them done? It would be nice if the rainy summers we have been having would not be repeated this year. In fact, I think I will wishfully predict that summer, 2011 will be dryer than usual. There. That ought to insure that I will soon be up to my armpits in runoff.
What projects for the range this year? I have several boxes of the Hornady LEVERevolution .30-30 ammo and want to give it an extensive trial in at least one good rifle. This ammo has been around for a few years, but now Hornady has made the bullets and the powder they use available to handloaders. You can bet I will do some work with that.
The Model 1891 Argentine Mauser was a successful, early, bolt-action military rifle. It fired a cartridge, the 7.65 Argentine, which was essentially a .30-caliber cartridge, so I am interested. It is not common, but I have come up with a couple of boxes of ammo, made in Serbia, (I didn’t have to go there) so you can expect some shooting results in this area, if my 1891 proves safe to shoot. This Mauser is contemporary with America’s first military bolt-action, the Krag-Jorgensen .30-40, so a comparison of the two is a natural “Tale of Two Thirties.”
Speaking of military rifles, the Model 1903 Springfield comes to mind. It was the first to use the famous .30-06 cartridge. I have some ideas about how the wooden stock affects accuracy with this arm, and hope to make a report on that.
Then I want to finish the articles that I have promised for the Articles page, do some shooting with the .22 WMR and other rimfire rifles, and squeeze in some work with revolvers from Grandma’s era. This ought to keep me busy at least until July. Ho, Ho.