These honkers didn’t seem to mind at all that the lake had turned solid over night here at ATOTT Headquarters. They simply decided to take a little stroll on the ice. Next day they headed for a little open water on a different part of the lake.
Mother nature was benevolent during the early part of December. She even allowed a few comfortable shooting days, some results of which appear in recent posts. However, a big storm the week before Christmas, followed by the lake turning solid, made it clear that my shooting season was over.
It is good to have a break and time to assimilate what has happened and to make plans for future projects. Loading cartridges for new shooting projects is also a great winter pastime. The best thing, though, is that I will have time to write some posts using results from last summer and fall that have not been treated yet. Here are some post topics I may get turned out before spring returns.
- Shooting the Remington Model 788 .44 Magnum
- A Remington Model 722 .300 Savage
- The Ruger No. 1S Medium Sporter
- A Mystery Rifle Invented by John M. Browning
New projects for next year’s shooting season won’t be hard to come by. The most exciting thing I can imagine will be some work with the .300 H & H Magnum, the last, and certainly the most powerful, of the “old thirties” in my stable. It was a glamorous hunting round in the first half of the twentieth century, and a very accurate round, also. Old and accurate, just my meat. In an accurate rifle, of course.
On the handloading scene it is powder that is interesting. Hodgdon has a product called Hybrid 100V that is touted as a combined spherical and extruded propellant with a burning rate in the H4350/H4831 range. Good for popular cartridges that like that range, like the .270 Win, but I am wondering how it would work in the .30-40 Krag. That oldie has always done well with the various 4350 and 4831 issues. I will be on my own if I decide to try it, because there is no data to be found. I don’t care. I can do it. Just might find that “everything old is new again!” Then there is also more work to be done with the Hodgdon powders that Hornady has made famous in their LEVERevolution and Superformance factory ammo. I have a .30-30 project in mind for the LE.
If this isn’t enough, there are the articles listed under the “Coming Soon” heading and I have not much recent progress to report for those. I am going to produce the “Krag vs. Mauser” sheet fairly soon, however, and the piece on the ’03 Springfield is also beckoning.
I could go on, but this is making me tired. I will report all in the fulness of time, and I hope you will find at least some of it to your liking. In the meantime, stay warm.