What did you do today

[MickinOz]

A couple weeks ago, I finally became a member of the Port Pirie Rifle Club.

Permission to vary my licence to include club membership endorsement (they even included handguns if I want to ) took forever.
Then it was complete club safety course, post to police.
Then get voted in by membership.
Then joined SARA, the state affiliate of the NRA of Australia.
A ten-month process, mostly due to delays at the police, due to turnover of trained officers.

But the best bit - with SARA membership in progress, I was eligible to attend the Yunta Rifle Club Christmas shoot.
Two rounds of ten shots at 500 yards, one round of ten at 300 metres.
Sporter class included for the first time, so my rifles qualified.
Very windy, did badly at reading the flags, came last out of the three people shooting sporter.
Still, our club did well. Paul, who has been selected for the Australian squad going to the Bisley in the UK next year, won A-Grade Target Rifle. Malcolm won F-Class standard, and his granddaughter Sophie was only 4 points behind him in second place.
Outstanding facilities in the middle of nowhere.
Bar, meals, hot showers, camping, and a day of competition for $40 with lunch included on the day.
Bar and meal prices were incredibly cheap, and the food was outstanding.
The club house was funded by mustering feral goats for sale. Only in Oz.

 

[MickinOz]

On the way home, I had to stop at the fruit fly quarantine station. Designed to keep infected fruit out of South Australia.
So I pulled up, and a guy in uniform came to my window.
"G'day," I said.
"G'day," he said. "Where have you come from?"
"Yunta, I was up there for the weekend." I said.
"Oh yeah? Up there for the Christmas shoot?" He asked, mimicking firing a rifle.
"Yeah mate, stone motherless last," I said.
"Never mind, I don't think I need to search you, have a good trip," he said.
That's how things roll in South Oz, if you are polite to the people in power.

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

On the way home, I had to stop at the fruit fly quarantine station. Designed to keep infected fruit out of South Australia.
So I pulled up, and a guy in uniform came to my window.
"G'day," I said.
"G'day," he said. "Where have you come from?"
"Yunta, I was up there for the weekend." I said.
"Oh yeah? Up there for the Christmas shoot?" He asked, mimicking firing a rifle.
"Yeah mate, stone motherless last," I said.
"Never mind, I don't think I need to search you, have a good trip," he said.
That's how things roll in South Oz, if you are polite to the people in power.

I can think of a nation that needs to relearn that simple message.

 

[Tom&Shelly]

Decided to add a timer to Shelly's jewelry tumbler. Found a good 2 hour countdown timer kit from CanaKit, and put it together this afternoon. Works fine. (She only needs a few hours or less, unlike rocks, which take days.) Shelly's going to print a case for it, so the whole thing will look dandy, and hopefully work okay with the old power drill in a new role.

Technical talk: This was about the only timer I could find these days not based on the Arduino, which would be expensive overkill.

The timing for this device is derived from the 60 Hz AC power. One thing wrong with the kit is that they said on-line that it needed +/- 6 volts AC, and I have a British +/- 12 volt center (oops, centre) tapped transformer in my junk pile that gives me just what I thought I needed when I plug it into North American house current (120 VAC vs 240). But when the kit came, I found out they re-designed it to take 9 volts AC, so I had to order a different transformer. The kit itself somehow arrived from Vancouver BC only a day and a half after I ordered it, which was great, but then the transformer took a few days from Amazon.

I think they should have probably included a transformer for $15 more. I bought a CanaKit years ago resold from an American company that included a wall wart style power supply from the American company. Not sure quite why they do things that way.

It turns out the timer is based on the LM 5860 IC, which is the chip most old red four-digit LED clocks use. I have a few in my junk pile, and they are easy to find in thrift stores. So, except for the relay, I have all the parts and could build as many of these as I want. I guess I paid a good price for the circuit diagram. Think I could even re-design it back to their old circuit, if I order a different version of the relay that triggers on a different voltage.

Tom

 

[MickinOz]

I admire your enterprise, Tom. Last time i wanted a timer, I just bought one of these.

 

[Tom&Shelly]

I admire your enterprise, Tom. Last time i wanted a timer, I just bought one of these.

We were going to buy one of those but only found them settable to 15 minute increments. Probably still would have worked just fine, but I knew I could design one with logic circuits and figured some kit maker probably already had. The cold and snowy weather is beginning in our hemisphere and the thought of putting together an electronics kit was appealing.

Growing up in Upstate New York, we had long winters and I spent a lot of time building electronics. I also built model kits, and they always gave me a feeling of relaxation and joy, but they've since changed the formula for the glue.

Tom

 

[Tony Latham]

My wife and I went looking for an elk. Her tag, her hunt. A nice day but short on snow. Lots of hours-old elk tracks.

This is at 9,000' near the Continental Divide, looking at the Lemhi Range.

Perhaps we'll find a bunch tomorrow, but the freezer is nearly full, anywho.

Tony

 

[Tom&Shelly]

A nice day but short on snow.

Tony

I know where it went. Do you want it back?

It was supposed to be 1-3 inches, which would have been just as pretty. Turned out to be 10-12.

Read a few years ago in the New York Times that once you're over 45 you shouldn't be hand shoveling snow anymore. Sure am glad I don't live in New York City! I'd be in an old folks' home. I'm 63 and have a third shoveled so far. Glad we don't have anywhere to go; this job is too much fun to do all at once. I'll stretch it out over the next day and a half.

Tom

 

[Tony Latham]

I know where it went. Do you want it back?

Naw.... It's snowing as I type.

Tony

 

[MickinOz]

I'm laying on my bed with the fan going, keeping cool so I can get to sleep later.

 

[MickinOz]

If there is anyone in this group who likes target shooting, I would be most grateful if they could assist with a question I have.
What is the diameter of the 10, 9, and 8 rings on an NRA C-2 200 yard target?

 

[Tony Latham]

What is the diameter of the 10, 9, and 8 rings on an NRA C-2 200 yard target?

This?

"For the NRA C-2 (or SR-Military) 200-yard rifle target, the diameters for the scoring rings are: the 10 ring is 7.00 inches, the 9 ring is 13.00 inches, and the 8 ring is 19.00 inches, all measured from the center, with the X-ring being 3.00 inches."

Tony

 

[MickinOz]

This?

"For the NRA C-2 (or SR-Military) 200-yard rifle target, the diameters for the scoring rings are: the 10 ring is 7.00 inches, the 9 ring is 13.00 inches, and the 8 ring is 19.00 inches, all measured from the center, with the X-ring being 3.00 inches."

Tony

Thanks Tony, it seems weird to me, that's all. I couldn't find any mention of C-2 in the official NRA stuff, only that reply from the bing/co-pilot automatic answer generator thingy.
The reason I ask is because the club has started using Shotmarker instead of manual marking.
The screenshot from my session yesterday says I got 92-2X which looks about the best I've managed with the 308. But if 19 inches for the 8 ring is correct, the fliers I had would not have even hit paper on the old targets.
I'm sure I was the gridlines on the earlier target were MOA markings.
I guess I'll have to ask the guys what is what.

 

[KCStudly]

Good groupings, if you ask me.

 

[Tony Latham]

Thanks Tony, it seems weird to me, that's all.

Do you reload?

Tony

 

[MickinOz]

Do you reload?

Tony

Yes mate.
I found Federal 130grn hollow point varmints worked pretty well, but I have always struggled in the wind. Other heavier factory loads didn't go quite so well in this rifle.
The guys at the club are very persuasive and had been telling me for some time I needed to use heavier projectiles and load my own. I've even been given some handloads to try, as people were keen to prove the point.
Eventually a really nice press came up for sale through the club.
The press is homemade but was used by a guy who won the Queen's Medal, so I figured it was probably going to be OK. It is extremely well made. Clearly a master machinist.
Then another guy passed on some 308 Lyman dies he was no longer using, throwing in an RCBS beam scale on the deal.
Another guy had a Lee primer tool he'd never used, which he refused to take money for, as it had been given to him by someone giving up reloading.
Two guys had me around to their homes to show me the ropes. Another guy gifted me some trays to hold cartridges and then made me some shell holders that go in a battery drill to facilitate annealing.
I measured my 223 and 308 chambers with gear the club captain insisted I borrow.
I've been shown how to decap, size, trim, clean the primer pockets, seat bullets to the ogive rather than OAL, the list goes on and on.
I reckon, without consulting my notebooks, that I've loaded 120 x 223 and 120 x 308 so far.
The primary aim was and is improved accuracy. The secondary benefit is that it is significantly cheaper than buying factory rounds. It'll be a little while before I cover the setup costs but, due to the generosity of club members, the setup costs have been quite reasonable and break even isn't too far away.

 

[Tony Latham]

It'll be a little while before I cover the setup costs but, due to the generosity of club members, the setup costs have been quite reasonable and break even isn't too far away.

For sure, but reloading opens up a whole new world of shooting. That home-made press is incredible.

Tony

 

[MickinOz]

For sure, but reloading opens up a whole new world of shooting. That home-made press is incredible.

Tony

It sure has made lots of experimenting more feasible. For example, I loaded some 69 grainers in .223 for next Saturday's 300 metre shoot. Can't buy any locally, the heaviest factory loads I have found are 60 grains.
The 300m is 2 sighters plus 20 to count, so I need 22 rounds. The 200 yards is 2 sighters plus 10 to count, x 2. So, I need 24 rounds for it.
Cartridges typically come in packs of 20 so, if nothing else I now can get just as many rounds as I need, no more, no less.
And when I measure the ogive lengths of a certain brand of target rounds that don't perform well in my rifle and find 0.032" variation in a box of twenty, well...
The press comes from a little town just down the road called Crystal Brook.
The maker was a guy called Colin Avery, a keen shooter/machining wizard who made somewhere around 20 or so. His son-in-law, who happens to be the state F-Class coach, tells me that he owns several, including one that's even nicer. I'd love to see it one day. He says it has ball bearings instead of just metal to metal.
A guy was talking to him the other day and asked him what brand of loading dies he favoured. "Most of mine are homemade", he said.
This guy has won just about everything there is to win. The talent that is walking around our little community...

 

[Tony Latham]

"Most of mine are homemade", he said.
This guy has won just about everything there is to win. The talent that is walking around our little community...

Impressive.

Tony

 

[MickinOz]

Well, I took my handloaded 69 grain Sierra Matchkings with 24 grains of ADI 2208 (aka Varget) to the range and participated in the 300m shoot. That'd be 328 yards, for people from the only nation that has landed on the moon.
it was a bit windy, gusting between 12 and 18 miles per hour, so I consulted with Malcolm who coaches the state F-class team. Got his advice on wind management and took my turn at target 5.
The wind caught me with a couple of direction changes that threw me into the 8 ring, but I got all the rest at least in the 9 ring. The 9 ring is 7.9 inches in diameter, so not too disappointed.
Final score 188 with 7 Xs. The X is the 2-inch circle in the middle of the bull that I was actually aiming at.
Malcolm scored a perfect 200. Jon, who insisted I try the 69 grn SMKs, scored 197.
However, my usually very average scores at the distance mean my handicap is 26.
So, unbelievably, I won.
I believe my handicap will not be 26 next meeting.