Revisiting 2.7 Grains Of Bullseye

One of the first reloading articles I remember reading is Blowing Up With 2.7, by Col. Jeff Cooper, about 1980.  The thought was that the standard load of Bullseye might occasionally detonate behind a .38 wadcutter load and blow up your revolver.  Bullseye is a dense powder, and there is a lot of power in a little pile of the flakes.  The issue of possible detonations still comes up, and pistols do sometimes blow up with handloads.  Today I stumbled across an article in a 1982 American Handgunner magazine that addresses the issue, and it pretty well settles it for me.  Read the article, pay attention to your quality control when loading, and you will probably never have your gun blow up in your hands.  I never knew if light loads of Bullseye would actually detonate until I read this article, but I did decide to use bulkier powders so a visual check will easily catch double charges, and make triple charges impossible.  Click Here to read the article, which appears on pages 8 and 69.

Ruger's Auction To Benefit The Scholastic Action Shooting Program

Collectors are going wild over this one!  It is a 1972 Ruger 10/22 Carbine that was returned by the distributor for unknown reasons.  It has a black walnut stock, aluminum framed trigger group and an aluminum buttplate.  Current carbines have a birch, polymer or laminated stock, polymer frame trigger group, and polymer buttplate.  This beauty has the Lyman rear sight with the white diamond below the sighting notch.  This fine collector piece will sell mid-day, March 28, 2018.  Click Here to place your bid.  $655

Tuesday Torque: Sick Of Winter Weather? So Is This Guy!

5.3 Liter Jaguar V12.  Show that snow who's boss!  Thanks for spotting this, Merle!

Where Do Chocolate Bunnies Come From?

Back To The Old Grind!

Spring Is Trying To Slip In

It has been SEVEN weeks since the Groundhog said SIX more weeks of winter.  I must go to the barn tomorrow for another load of wood because we are still running both stoves.  Iowa has 6 to 10 inches of snow, and there are power outages.  I think my little brother, the jeweler is in the cold tonight, because he needs power to have heat.  In Southern Illinois, it is cold, but at least we have mud instead of snow, but it still feels like winter tonight. 

Yesterday the precip was light, so we took Pattie out for a brief yard walk with the dogs and stopped to take a photo.  Try posing five dogs and getting a good photo.  It was a good time, and Pattie enjoyed it.  We have lots of daffodils, and the Iris is up about four inches now.

It was four and a half years ago that we made the patch of daffodils at the end of the driveway.  The ground was dry and hard, so we had to bore a hole for every bulb.  Pattie had her earmuffs on because the generator is loud, and the work sure paid off.

Weekend Steam: Two Days On The Grand Canyon Railway

Merle keeps finding great videos!  Thank You, Merle!

YouTube To End Firearm Related Channels, Videos

Here is the latest video from reloader, Fortune Cookie 45LC.  He has one of the great firearm channels on YouTube, and provides instruction on reloading for both beginners and experienced loaders.  He is one of the presenters who will likely be cut from YouTube shortly.  Let's listen to his thoughts on the situation. 




YouTube is notorious for changing rules and the application thereof. They recently changed the rules on monetized channels and cut out a whole bunch of little channels from the benefits of ads on their videos. I don't know if it will do any good, but contact YouTube and rattle their cage. If you are a YouTuber who is interested in firearms, create an account at Full30. It is just getting started, but they soon will have upload capabilities for displaced YouTube presenters.

Bogus Information, Dangerous Results: Wildlife "Hinge" Cutting

Last week we looked at a dangerous cutting method used by some loggers to drop high quality logs.  That undercutting method may kill you, so it is not recommended, but we need to know about these things so we can read stumps when we are looking at timber.  Gain some cutting skills, look at a lot of stumps, and pretty soon you can tell who cut which trees during a timber reconnaissance.  This week we will look at a method that is just as dangerous, maybe more so, because it allows a tree to gain elevation and get above the cutter. 

Before we even start, I want to make clear this is not proper Hinge Cutting!  A proper hinge is about 80% of the Diameter at Breast Height in length, and about 10% of the Diameter at Breast Height in thickness (up to around 2"), with an open face on the front so the tree can rotate to the ground while the hinge remains intact.  The people promoting this obviously do not understand chainsaw safety, and have no knowledge or skills in applying silviculture; the science of growing trees.

The contractors who are promoting this tell customers that this type of cutting will provide woody browse for the deer herd by putting the crown down on the ground.  Of course, trees will not live for very long in this condition and they will cease to produce fruit, which is important for all wildlife.

Cutting trees this way turns most of them into barberchairs because a proper hinge has not been made. The trees go into motion and split, which elevates the butt end of the tree puts it right up into the cutter's face.  Do this, and you will be hit in the face!

Cutting is done only on the tensioned side of the tree until the tree begins to tip.  I have seen many good, young pole size trees that would have produced timber and decades of mast crops for wildlife destroyed with this bogus method.

In addition to wrecking timber production, every tree you cut this way may become your death trap.  The butt kicks up in the air, and that may kill you.  It can also fall after tipping if the back of the barberchair fails, so you have two chances to be maimed or killed.

If you use a chainsaw and you have not taken a safety course, seek one out.  The University of Illinois Forestry Extension is providing classes at various locations around the state.  You will learn about the personal protective gear you need, basic chainsaw maintenance, and safe methods of falling and bucking trees.

Ruger's Auction To Benefit The Scholastic Action Shooting Program

Ruger is offering a 2001, new-in-box P 95 in 9mm, with manual safety.  This fine pistol sells mid-day, March 21, 2018.  CLICK HERE to read all about it and to place your winning bid.  $825

Tuesday Torque: Cranking Up A 10 HP Mogul

This little exercise was at the crankup I attended in February.  I cut off more than a minute of cranking at the beginning.  Most of the engines in this barn will run, but they are started only about once a year.  Note that the Mogul kicked back once.  Pulling over an engine with the flywheels is much safer than spinning it with a crank. Don't ever crank one for starting by putting your foot in the flywheel.  Serious injuries can result!