Attempts at amateur gunsmithing, citizenship, and other skilled trades
When the siren song of the workbench falls on deaf ears, the mysteries of ballistics fail to fascinate, or the howl of power tools late on a school night upsets the neighbors, it’s important to have more sedentary pursuits to fall back on.
These are some of my favorites.
In an earlier journal entry I mentioned neck turning brass as a possible way to improve accuracy.
“Neck turning” consists of shaving the outer diameter of brass case necks to minimize variations in thickness. By uniforming the brass you’re supposed to get consistent neck tension, therefore consistent velocity and better accuracy.
A lot of smart people swear by it, but I couldn’t find much in the way of hard evidence for or against.
Seeing this car brought back a vivid memory of my grandmother driving a bunch of kids through the Texas Hill Country for an afternoon swim in the creek.
Those ranch roads could be rough, but “the Plymouth” was up to the task.
You had to pump the brakes to make them work, and sometimes they didn’t work then.
Continue readingMore of the equipment that’s earned a place on my reloading bench so far (continued from part 1).
Stumped by which reloading equipment to choose?
Trial and error can be a frustrating–and expensive–approach, so here’s a look at the equipment that’s earned a place on my reloading bench so far.
A few years ago I ordered a bar for our front room: I wanted something massive, with a foot rail, where I could pretend I was in an old-timey western saloon.
One of my New Year’s resolutions was to get back into the regular practice of archery. It’s been awhile, mainly because I had trouble finding someplace to shoot…
First appeared in Air Force Times, summer 2000
The airman who strapped me into the airplane at MAPLE FLAG XXXIII wore a huge grin on his face. And the reason for his high spirits? The day before he’d gotten an incentive flight in an F-16D.
Continue readingEver since I can remember, I always wanted to be able to throw knives and tomahawks. I remember Fess Parker splitting a pine trunk with a tomahawk in the opening credits for “Daniel Boone” back in the 60’s…
My .22 WMR Ruger American Rimfire Target (Model 8349) is glass bedded and has Shively Trigger Shims installed which, along with the cleanup demonstrated on the Triggershims.com Ruger American Rimfire page, smoothed the adjustable factory trigger’s three pound pull. I also mounted a Hawke Vantage 4-12×40 scope on Vortex rings. A nice rifle!
It likes Federal Small Game 50 grain jacketed hollow points, but even in the best cherry-picked 100 yard groups shot on my best days I still saw fliers like these:
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