Bob Coming To Pick Me Up!
January 30, 2012
Counting The Days Until Spring
January 30, 2012
It’s really not been much of a winter across most of the United States, except Alaska. Even still, with the days inching along getting a bit longer each day and the sun edging its way higher into the sky, anything of bright colors spurs us on for the passage into spring. But not everyone is subjected to winter in the classic sense.
Florida has been a warm winter as well, but added warmth during the winter in Florida doesn’t mean less snow it means more days at the beach and more time spent in shorts, T-shirts and flip-flops. “Livin’ on sponge cake. Watchin’ the sun bake. All of those tourists covered in oil.”
As the sun came up this morning over the eastern horizon, I took note of one of the pots of flowers scattered around the yard. What caught my eye was one pot of brilliant red petunias, dancing in a light southeast breeze.
I grabbed my little PHD (push here dummy) camera, grabbed a couple shots and here’s one of them.
Photo by Tom Remington Click on image for a larger view.
Chugach Mountains State Park Looking East From Anchorage
January 30, 2012
To the left is Bird Creek Pass; to the right is Indian Creek Pass. Ship Creek is in view and flows this way (west) towards Anchorage and goes to the port, up town. Bird and Indian creeks are fishable also from Turnagain Arm south five and tens miles.
Photo by Al Remington Click on image to enlarge – very nice)
Open Thread – January 30, 2012
January 30, 2012
Please use this open thread to post your ideas, comments and information about issues not directly related to the articles published on this web site. Thank you.
Something About A Labrador
January 30, 2012
I don’t know what it is, but there’s something about labs. I’ve owned, trained, and shown a handful of different dogs, and I’ve loved them all. But labs hold a special place for me. Maybe it’s because they’re the only dog I’ve owned that hunts with me.
No dog ever lives as long as we wish it would, but I’ve had particularly bad luck with my last two. Both of them died young, one mysteriously (Lucky) and one from lymphatic cancer (Cyrus). Of course, it wasn’t much easier with my previous dogs who lived long, full lives. You just get so attached…
Anyway, after almost a year of waiting, hoping, and planning, I got a call a couple weeks ago from the breeder who sold us Cyrus. I’d been hoping to get another pup from her, but it was starting to look like it just wasn’t going to happen. Then she called with the news I’d been waiting for! The pups were here, and I was welcome to come take my pick of the males.
So here he is! Igneous Rock (Iggy), seven weeks old, is the newest addition to the household. By next fall, he should be ready to chase birds… although right now I’m not sure if it’ll be CA waterfowl and pheasants, or TX quail and waterfowl.
Doesn’t matter.
The main thing is, we’ve got a new pup!
Twitter Will Censor and U.S. Ranks 47th Now In Freedom of Press
January 28, 2012
Alternative Forms of Energy Consumption
January 28, 2012
Literally Going Green!
Anchorage Snowbanks
January 28, 2012
Photo by Al Remington
Open Thread – January 28, 2012
January 28, 2012
Please use this open thread to post your ideas, comments and information about issues not directly relevant to the content of articles published on this blog. Thank you.
Lead Ban Chronicles – Lead-Free Ammunition Trends From SHOT 2012
January 27, 2012
To be honest, I really didn’t have high hopes of learning anything new about lead ammunition at this year’s SHOT Show. Of course I knew the manufacturers like Barnes, Hornady, and Nosler would be adding new calibers to their menus. That’s an ongoing effort, and probably much needed as more and more voices are being raised against lead ammo around the country.
Why is it much needed?
Unless the hunters and recreational shooters around this country get up and start fighting this thing, California-style ammo bans are going to start popping up all over the U.S. That’s not just pessimism on my part, folks, the machinery is already in motion. Anti-lead propaganda is running rampant in editorials everywhere and the uneducated are eating it up while almost no reasonable voices are challenging the lies and misinformation. This is how policy happens.
So, with that in mind, maybe it’s a good thing that a “trend” I thought I saw coming last year is really starting to develop. I guess it started with Remington a little earlier. Their initial lead-free ammunition featured the Lapua Naturalis bullet. They phased that out and moved to a proprietary copper bullet, the Remington Copper Solid (they did something similar when they moved away from Hevi-Shot to their own heavier-than-lead shot pellets). By switching to their own bullet, they reduced the dependency on a third party, and also reduced the cost to produce.
At the 2011 SHOT Show, I learned that Winchester was releasing their own lead-free bullet in the Power-Core 95/5 (and also in the newer RazorBack XT). They didn’t phase out the successful Nosler ETip, but if the Power-Core takes off, I can see where their dependency on Nosler will decrease… especially with the price difference between the ETips and the Power-Cores. Right now, I expect they’ll keep both lines, with the ETips in the “Supreme” (black box) line, while the Power-Core will fall into their standard (silver box) line.
This year I learned that Federal-Premium is now rolling out their proprietary lead-free bullet, the Trophy Copper, which will be loaded in their Vital-Shok line. I haven’t had a chance to use this one yet, but I’ve got a request in for a few boxes to sample. From what I hear, though, the engineers at Federal have taken the criticism of other lead-free bullets into consideration and made a concerted effort to develop and deliver a bullet that expands well at a wide range of velocities, and also provides a better ballistic coefficient to enhance longer range performance.
Meanwhile, Barnes is expanding their line of factory-loaded cartridges in the Vor-TX line. I’ll try some more of these out on game soon, but on paper, I found that the Vor-TX does shoot well out of my Savage. The point of impact is somewhat different from the 180gr ETips I’ve been shooting, but the groups are pretty tight. Maybe I’ll get the chance to try these out on a Hill Country hog later this year.
Hornady, of course, has been loading their GMX bullet in the Superformance line. Those of you who’ve been following the Pig Man tv program have probably heard him rave about the performance of this bullet. I’ve shot some of my own handloads on paper, and the bullet does perform well at the range. Unfortunately, I’ve yet to get a chance to put these into the field. I hope to change that later this spring.
Bottom line, I think it’s fair to start hoping for some more affordable, lead-free ammunition over the coming year. That may turn out to be a very good and timely thing!
