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Thanks. I’m putting together another squirrel rifle. I’ll unveil it soon.

They taste mostly of the barbecue sauce.

I feel like I’ve been neglecting my duties. First 3 of the season. I actually shot one with my Henry on opening day. But, I forgot the photo. My Ruger 10/22 is a squirreling machine.

I’m having trouble visualizing a proper cheekweld while trying to peek through the scope with the left eye. I’m pretty much in the camp that says learn to shoot left handed. This will allow the child to use any rifle without modifications. There are some parallax problems mounting the...

Over the last few months, I have been focusing on my Rimfire rifles and my 308 because they perform the bulk of hunting uses. However, I realized I had been neglecting my 223. The rifle is a Savage Axis II XP 223 with Boyd’s lightweight thumbhole stock and Nikon Prostaff 5 scope. I...

I wouldn’t crimp unless your shooting from an AR. Then again, quality 223 ammo is cheap enough not to require reloading for an AR at all.

When I was first reloading, I went crazy and loaded about 300 rounds. I got lots of practice. The problem, the load didn’t shoot that great in my 308. I was stuck with the crappy loads for months until I worked through them. Since then, I only load 15-30 rounds at a time, until I have the...

That rifle is pretty hot.

The cadets at my old school used to have this old weight belt painted with porky pig. They awarded to the guy who beds the most obese woman.... Ah, good times.

I’m not sure I can link to something in the store.

You can pick up 800 round cases of Norma TAC 223 for about $250. The stuff is amazing for 31 cents a round. My 223 averages about 3/4 MOA. I have a healthy stash for plinking and impromptu target shooting. I harvest the Norma brass and reload them with Sierra Varminter 60 gr. HP. These...

I’m actually liking the fine crosshairs in my Leupold scope a great deal. The Nikon reticule does seem a bit chunky afterward.

I find interchangeable dials a little clumsy. The Nikon Prostaff scopes are good optics. But, I haven’t had the energy to work up the bdc chart for my hand loads.

That’s what I mean. You need to look up the bdc ranges for each load. Most of my hunting guns have Nikon bdc reticules. I rarely use them.

Off topic, yes. But, at least no one has chimed in for BDC reticules. You need a smartphone app to use them.

I teach nurses to covert between convert between units and different systems of measurement for dosage calculations. The metric system is handy. This is one of the reasons most of the world prefers it. I was only pointing out that radians are not inherently metric. Radian measure is simply...

It’s really urban/rural dynamic. The frontier in the lower 48 states closed only about 100 years ago. But, places here in the east have been settled longer. Look at Europe, that place has been civilized for a thousand years.

Local villages and town often have laws against open carry. I know there in town I live in, you can’t have a loaded firearm without a permit. This includes rifles and shotguns. The lack of permit for open carry is a bit of a barrier. Growing up in VT. I find NYS sensibilities toward open carry...

Milliradians are unitless. 1 meter at 1000 meters 1 yard at 1000 yards 1 inch at 1000 inches 1 mile at 1000 miles. The angle is the same. The problem with measuring angles in Degrees and minutes is that is not a natural measure of angle. 360 degrees, 60 minutes of arc was devised by the...

That’s the trick. You need to range an object with predictable size.

5/3 is division. Fractions are division. 5/3=1.667 Multiplication by 1000 is moving the decimal point 3 place right. The units don’t matter. A one meter tall target subtending two mils is 500 meters away. 1/2 x 1000 =500

The actual trigonometry is not very interesting. My sister had a job teaching navy crews how to navigate with pen and paper. One day, the power went down and she was the only one able to do the calculations by had. She got a commendation for it. She’s not a genius, it just takes practice...

5/3 x 1000 feet. Note: the upper torso, neck, and head of a human male averages about 1 yard. The mil dot reticule is ideal for ranging people.

That’s the beauty of a mil-dot reticule. The math is dirt simple. Count the mild subtending the 1 yard target and divide one thousand. That is your range. I have a Ph.D. in mathematics. But, I don’t like to hit people over the head with it.

I guess if you had mil-dot graduations horizontally, you could use a 1 yard wide target. Radians is a unitless measure of angle. Whatever unit your using to measure distance will work. The tangent of the angle is a ratio of distances. For small angles, the tangent is approximately the...

The nice thing about a mil-dot is that radians is a natural angular measure, while minute-of-angle is not. Therefore, the calculations for reckoning distance are easier. For example. For radian measure x, tan(x) is approximately x for small angles. So, 1 mil is 1 yard at 1000 yards...

I went today. It seemed like a rerun of the last time I attended. It was too rainy to bust squirrels, so I figured, “what the hell.” I got $100 in cash and started looking around. I almost got one if BGs striped lowers. But, I ended up buying an old Marlin Model 80 from the same guy I bought a...

Another single squirrel day. This after being skunked on Thursday morning. I’m seeing fewer squirrels and the ones I see are harder to shoot. I’ll probably give this property a rest for the rest of the season.

Just one lonely squirrel, today. I’ve noticed that I see fewer squirrels on overcast days.

I want a 17 HM2 very badly. I intend to buy the first one I see in the wild.

The last time I went to the Middletown show was 2013. It was a madhouse. 2013 was a little nuts. But, I did pick up a Mossberg 340BD for $125. I keep meaning to go back, but I always seem to find something else to do that day. Mostly it involves putting lead in things.

I found this honey hole while I was deer hunting. I’ve killed more squirrels in the last three weeks than the September and October combined.

I’ve never seen a black squirrel in Ulster County before today.

Squirrels on ice.

I see them pretty often on Lang Farm Trail. They are pretty easy to spot this time of the year against the snow. They cut pretty loudly on the ground. Great target practice. Be careful, there are also short tailed weasel that can look a lot like reds. They may not be in season.

You should get some of this Norma TAC 223 FMJ for the brass. It is great ammo. I reload it with 60 gr. Sierra HP. But, my Savage Axis is 1:9.

I’ve sworn by #6 low brass game loads. But, they can really tear up the meat and you can get lead pellets left. Lately, I’ve been trying #4 high brass, the larger pellets pass through doing less meat damage. But, as I found out today, I’m going to need a choke to deliver them in a lethal pattern.

There are some places here that are shotgun only. The land where I rifle hunt will get snowed in during January and February, so I’ll be reduced to shotgun only. My 20 gauge is set up for Turkey ATM. But, there is still my 410 and 12 gauge single action guns. Both are full choked. Maybe I’ll...

With the freezer filled with venison, I figured it was time for some guilt-free squirrel hunting. The last day of autumn had some relatively warm temperatures. Breaking in my new Maverick 88 by busting some squirrels wasn’t a brilliant plan. The gun was rather ineffective outside 25 yards...

Roast Venison Loin with Sweet Potato Pancakes.

I was only sorry for identifying my buck as a doe. I thought for a moment that I might not get to keep it because of the antler restriction in 3J. Then I remembered that the property was just inside 3M. I’m all about the meat and I don’t think I could fit a mature buck in the trunk of my...

I thought I was shooting a doe. My heart sank when I discovered to tiny spikes just over 3 inches. Then I remembered, I was in 3M. I shot the deer from an elevated position at the top of a sleep slope. Probably why it didn’t smell me. The deer was struck on the left side. The wound you see...

I honestly can’t remember where I bought it. I buy so much crap. I’m sorry I can’t b3 more helpful.

My Axis II XP w/ Byods lightweight thumbhole. My advice, ditch the factory scope bases and use a one piece.

In New York State, you should avoid inclusive reading of regulations. If something is not explicitly permitted by unambiguous and well understood text, I’d wouldn’t depended on it being so. The question is, can I load my Henry 22 with the entire 15 round capacity?

I work right there. Happily, it is my work-from-home day.

Automatch can be a real mixed bag. I know they put the word “match” in the title. I wouldn’t use it for a match. My 10/22 really loved Aguila super-extra. Maybe that’s a little spendy for an Appleseed match. 500 rounds will put a real dent in you pocketbook.

Do squirt guns count?

First gun shot: Savage 220c .410 shotgun. My dad’s 13 year birthday gift from my grandfather in 1940. He died shortly afterward on an expedition to the Andes for the Army Corps of engineers. The grandfather, not the dad. First gun purchase. Beretta 70S .380 ACP. My first and only concealed...

I’ll pass, I nearly had a heart attack last year caused by hypertension. I’ve had to forswear fast food because of the sodium. I bet it’s delicious. :(