Little Piggy

 Next month I'll be joining my eldest and his son on a wild pig hunt. I'll be deciding between a 7mm Mag, Brit 303, 454 lever action and 454 revolver. I have others, but those are my first choice. Years ago I took a Russian boar at under 50 yards with the 303.

When my schedule and sort of decent weather coincides I'll be hitting the range to evaluate first shot  alignment to the scope. Both bolt guns are MOA or better, but I haven't looked at first shot in years. Both 454 units are 100 yards or closer for me. On a good day, farther. The lever action has a red dot sight, and the revolver wears a 2X scope.

There's a possibility I'll wear the revolver in a chest holster and carry one of the bolt actions.

If the 2 bolt guns above don't satisfy, I have scopes on a 6.5mm mauser, 308 Enfield, and Swiss K31. The 6.5 and K31 shoot nice small groups, but they're not zeroed. The best I have so far is 1-1/4" from the 308., and it's not zeroed.

Drive Time

 Drove the Boss to King George Virginia late last week to spend time with great grand children, and the first birthday of one. Mapquest and Google both show 3 different routes all less than 8.5 hours. I have a GPS that's set up for when I'm pulling our 5th wheel camper, which we didn't take on this trip. It picked one of those 3 routes and estimated 9 hours of drive time. I was driving, without trailer, 5mph to 7mph over the speed limit. It was still about 9.5 hours of drive time. After about 8 hours of driving I found it hard to retain focus. I think I'll be spending the night between here and there in the future. Too many hours behind the wheel for this old man.

When planning a trip pulling the trailer I usually use Mapquest with about 6 hours driving or less between stops. It always takes a little longer but I'm driving the speed limit and don't have an issue with focus.

40 S&W

 Several years ago I received a 40S&W FN HiPower with the brother-in-laws passing. Seems most consider the 40 as the best combination of the 9 and 45, but I disagree. Heavy recoil like the 45 but snappy like the 9. 

I've experimented with different powders behind 180gr coated lead bullets (because they're less expensive) and until yesterday didn't find a combination that made me happy. 3.4grs of Clays and 4.5grs of Tite Group produced 3.5" and 3.0" four shot groups at 25yds. I did have a single flyer each. I was shooting 5 shot groups. As far as I can tell the flyers were me. I plan to run those again.

I've also ordered some 155gr JHPs to try.

Vertigo

 Just now over several days of suffering with Vertigo. So instead of spending time with my horse, getting things done around the house, or going to the range, I've been mostly immobile. Hoping for a change tomorrow.

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So the vertigo goes away but the weather turns to shit, so no range time.  Now that the weather is better, vertigo is trying to raise its ugly head again. Not bad, but better play it safe.

K31 Again

 Made it to the range again with the Swiss K31with a partial box of the best performing load from the la last trial. This time I checked all the screws, and tightened a couple. I fired four 3 shot groups  at 100 yards as follows: 1-3/4", 1", 1-1/4", 1" in that order. I suspect that the larger group sizes were due to the person pressing the trigger and not the ammunition I loaded. I'll repeat that test the next time at the range. It has a 2x-7x scope mounted in the scout configuration as the only modification.

I set the bullets deeper than the book said because the rifle's throat was short, measured using a comparator. The powder charge was also reduced. H4350 pushing Sierra 180gr SBT

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Last Sunday afternoon I spent a few hours at the Boss's church teaching an introduction to handguns. This included safety, types, hand fit, grip and trigger press. When I agreed to do this there were 3 women interested, but about 15 showed up. We'll be meeting again primarily to reinforce grip and trigger press. A couple of the women need extra help, and appeared to be afraid to even touch a gun. We'll also explore methods of carry, and a little bit about home defense.

Bad Year for Critters

 This has been a bad year for our four legged critters. Our two long time family dogs are no longer of this earth. The little stray terrier we adopted has a very bad heart murmur, now on 3 medications to prolong his life. Then 2 days ago I had to have the Bosses horse put down. He had such bad teeth that he couldn't eat.

Empty House

 The time came sooner than I expected. Friday morning the Husky/Shepherd (15 YO) lost most of his back legs motor control. He would stumble, fall down, move in circles and held his head at an angle. Yesterday we sent him to dog heaven to join our little Sheba Inu. We've had those 2 critters for 13 years. We've lost both this summer. The house seems empty without them. Out of habit I look for them when moving about the house and yard.

The little terrier stray the Boss picked up earlier this summer helps fill the void.