Oh my Gosh--trapped in my reloading shop!

[Recluse]

Big ice and winter storm here in the land of BBQ, chili and tequila. Roads are bad, ground is frozen, no school, lots of places shut down. . .

Heater has been on all night in the shop, TV is on to the Outdoor Channel (flip channel being the Military History Channel), and the heater on the Lyman 45 is warming up as the casting furnace is about up to temp. I've got plenty of cold drinks and snacks, so I'm in good shape.

Meanwhile, the media around here says it's "dangerously cold" and to "not venture forth unless you absolutely have to."

Looks like the only safe and sane thing for me to do, as a responsible citizen, will be to hole up in my reloading shop and cast some boolits and get some reloading done, clean some guns, etc.

Took me a long time to grow up and be this responsible. :wink: Glad it's now finally paying off.

:coffee:

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

You should be OK with that,
I've been doing that since early November :cbpour:
Jon

[deltaenterprizes]

Snow is falling here!

[Bwana]

That's where I've been all morning, lubrisizing the boolits I cast Friday and Saturday. Except for when I went out and shoveled the two foot drift back six feet from the garage door behind the wife's car only to have it pretty much filled back in an hour later. Called work and told them I wouldn't be in and I wasn't the first to call, by a long shot. I've got about a one foot drift behind my car for twenty feet to the street and then there is about ten inches in the street. Maybe I'll get it cleared before work tomorrow.

[Springfield]

It's only going to get up to 65 today. Was cold at night a couple of nights ago, got all the way down to 32. Kids liked the frost on the lawn in the morning, doesn't happen much. :razz:

[Kraschenbirn]

We've had sleet/ice pellets driven by high winds since about nine last night and forecasted to receive 12"-15" of snow over the next 24 hours so I figure it'll be Thursday morning 'fore much will be moving 'round this part of Illinois. Soon as I'm finished uploading the reports on the properties I inspected yesterday, there's about a thousand unsized, unlubed boolits ...311291s and 312-185-1Rs...awaiting GCs beside my trusty ol' Lyman 450. Guess I'll have to put on a fresh pot of coffee, pull a good cigar out of the humidor, and dial up some college roundball on the bench-top TV...

Bill

[montana_charlie]

Right now we are at five above, which is an improvement over what we've seen for the last several days. Might get above freezing by Thursday.
Glad to see this little cold snap finally moving out, and going to share some love with other areas.

Y'all enjoy it...!

CM

[GrumpyFinn]

I knew there was a reason I moved to Florida, 81 and sunny.

[beagle]

Could be worse. We just got over about two weeks of that and I've caught up on my loading, casting and sizing. Looks like just rain for us here in KY. I'm wanting warm weather so I can shoot some of the new winter toys. Stay warm./beagle

[Dan Cash]

Right now we are at five above, which is an improvement over what we've seen for the last several days. Might get above freezing by Thursday.
Glad to see this little cold snap finally moving out, and going to share some love with other areas.

Y'all enjoy it...!

CM

Well I am surely glad to live in the North Dakota Bananna Belt. 2 feet snow on the ground and all the way up to -10 as I type.
Dan

[Russ in WY]

Winter in Wyoming. Was -17° here this AM, now only-9.4°. Not going above 0° for another day or so. My weather station goes off scale at -40° on the Chill Factor reading , has been that way for most of the day with the winds we are having. 1 more cold night ,then warming up later in the week . Snow passed us by this time. yep time to crank the handle on the 550. Later Russ.

[scrapcan]

Russ,

We are the same down here in the South East part of the State. Our high is going to be right at -11. Looks like maybe two days until normal winter weather returns. No snow to speak of and we have lots of bright sky, just no warm air.

[fecmech]

Here in the Buffalo NY area the media is hyping the living daylights out of this storm. Came back from the Chiropractor this afternoon and all the supermarket parking lots are full. Combination of the impending storm (starts for us tonight) and I guess Super Bowl weekend. I think I might cast some softer boolits and take advantage of the snow pack to do some testing. Snow is the perfect recovery medium for shot boolits and I want to push some pure lead and 50/50 lead /WW in the magnum ranges to see the effects. Judging by the temps for the coming week I won't be rushed at all. Will post the results when the snow melts and uncovers the slugs.

[bbs70]

Ice and sleet with high winds all day today.
Suppose to get about a foot or more of snow.
Blizzard warnings out.

Wife is off today, thankfully, just stayed in the house and enjoying being home spending time with mama.
Our two huskies are outside just loving it.


Had put new sights on my Glock, so last Sunday I went to range to try them out and about froze my *** off, but at least I got some shooting in.:bigsmyl2:

[firefly1957]

Clouds and wind moving in now all afternoon we were sunny with light snow? it's Michigan what else. Tonight they are calling for a "MONSTER STORM" I will believe it when I see it. I have most of my reloading bullet making done so I am converting vinyl to MP3 it is a good winter project.

[Charlie Two Tracks]

I get to plow snow tonight. I was out last night and we are expecting up to 20 inches of snow on the ground. Snow started about 1pm and is expected to continue until tomorrow some time. I plow the interstate and we will do everthing we can to keep it open. I imagine most of the traffic will be gone.(hope so) and we can plow without worrying of hitting someone stranded. That's my job. Sometimes easy, sometimes not. I'm glad I got a job to go to.

[HangFireW8]

I plow the interstate and we will do everthing we can to keep it open. I imagine most of the traffic will be gone.(hope so) and we can plow without worrying of hitting someone stranded. That's my job. Sometimes easy, sometimes not. I'm glad I got a job to go to.

Charlie,

My thanks to you and your coworkers.

Many people gripe about the weather. You actually do something about it!

-HF

[Hardcast416taylor]

The weatherman is predicting 12 - 15" snow tonight with a possible accompaning up to 35 mph ENE wind. I had the tractor out about 2 this PM to clear some knee high drifts that weren`t there at noon - can`t even tell I was out there now. Guess that`s why I have all those Carhart outer clothes to wear?Robert

[zuke]

No storm for me. I'm too far North.
It's been getting to -30/-35 lately, the wind's been bringing it down to -40/-45.
But has it ever been sunny! Cloud's can't form in this cold, the moisture get's frozen out of the air.

[Jack Stanley]

"Dangerously cold " ............ Hmmmmm ...... for you guys that's what about sixty degrees ?? 8-) I made a lap around the fields this morning to get an idea of the limbs i need to get out of the way of the combine . Got back from that and lit off a fire in the range house then went and got the model fifty-three and three boxes of ammo .

Ya know everytime they call for a snowstorm it's made out to be worse than the apocolypse . I can't help but wonder if the weatherman doesn't own a stake in the grocery stores . :coffeecom

I got the three boxes of empty casings loaded again and waiting to got out tomorrow . :Fire:

Jack

[geargnasher]

I would like to extend an invitation to all you polar bears to come visit us here in Texas in July, when it's 105 in the shade during the day and 90 at night with 90% relative humidity, and you'll see why a few days below 40 degrees qualifies as a natural disaster here! My water lines are in the process of freezing right now because they are only buried 8" deep for most of the way to the well, more than good enough for all but a few days out of every decade. Unfortunately, THESE are those few days!

Ya'll keep your feet dry and your arses warm, wherever you are!

Gear

[btroj]

We get upper 90's and humid in summer here in NE. Sadly, we are freezing our butts off right now. Wind chills expected to be 35 below or so in the morning.
And 8" deep? Heck, we bury dirt deeper than that here.
Good thing about winter is the freeze thaw cycles are great for bringing bullets to the surface of the berm. That makes em ripe for picking.

Brad

[geargnasher]

Yeah, the only people around here that know what frost heave is live in parked motor homes six months out of the year.

Gear

[Centaur 1]

Snow, dangerous cold, wind chills, and temperatures that look like the bottom half of a subtraction problem. What's this world coming to. Instead of being shut in, you friends from the north need to get out and drive your big SUV's as much as possible. Obviously global warming is taking much longer than expected. Lucky for me it's been in the 70's lately and I've been doing lots of reloading in shorts and a t-shirt. When I need a break I'll walk out back and pick an orange from my tree and eat it while playing ball with the dogs. [smilie=s: :mrgreen: [smilie=s:

[MT Gianni]

Remember if you are designing a non-attached mancave or reloading center to have the door open in. Pushing snow to get a door open would be a bummer.

[NHlever]

It's 25 degrees, and snowing here. Has been all day and they say we will get a foot, or two. Doesn't make that much difference around here usually. My shop, and reloading area are not attached to the house so I have to wade out there, but it is warm, and dry inside there too. The tractor is fueled, and ready when this stuff stops coming down so I'm just staying comfortable, and enjoying the storm so far.

[Jack Stanley]

Gear , thanks so much for the invite but our summers get "interesting" enough from time to time . It has been several years since I've seen a summer that has gone into triple digits on the thermometer ... Thankfully . Since we have lakes on three sides and there are more than ten thousand lakes upwind of us , not to mention the three rivers that originate in this county alone . When it gets into the nineties here humidity tends to go right along with it and to us po' folk the ice is the only thing that saves us from roasting .

Not to mention it tends to keep the pit vipers , killer bees , fire ants and other such nasties well south of us . We could trade you some wood ticks for one o' them big ol' ratlin' snakes if'n ya want . :lol: Things are looking up though there's enough sun to cast a shadow right now . It's not all that bad fifteen mile an hour winds and light snow right now ...... I think I'll go to the dungeon and prep a few more cases . 8-)

Jack

[mpmarty]

Y'all are makin me homesick for Reno Nevada and Winnemucca. My favorite places. Basque food and four seasons. Our last snow was the first week of November. It's 40* F here now and went down to 29* F last night. It's supposed to start raining again on Saturday and continue the rest of the month.

[lead_her_fly]

Snowed in this morning too. Hit the garage and went to work on some Miha 45-270-SAA with the pins reversed. A bit with the H&G #502 and then the Saeco #456BB.

The garage isn't heated and it did get a bit chilly out there as it was just 19*F outside! :D

Believe it or not, I was getting some frosty bullets even in this weather. My Lee 4-20 Pro was working just fine! ;)

Ordered a Star luber/sizer and just got an email about it shipping! WHHOOOOOHOOOOOO!

[smilie=w:[smilie=w:[smilie=w:[smilie=w:

Here are the pics:

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r115/Sackettwannabe/Boolits/45ACP%2045Colt/45-270-SAAblizzardcast2.jpg

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r115/Sackettwannabe/Boolits/45ACP%2045Colt/HG502blizzardcasting2.jpg

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r115/Sackettwannabe/Boolits/45ACP%2045Colt/Saeco456BBblizzardcasting4.jpg

[geargnasher]

Dem's Purty! Gotta love the brass moulds, none better.

Gear

[smoked turkey]

With the miserable weather we been havin' I feel sorry for them folks that don't handload, cast and otherwise have a hobby like ours. From the posts here looks like we all are doing ok with the latest winter blast. -10 here tonight with wind bringing it to -20. Looks like tomorrow I'll get the 35 Remington loading project off dead center.

[home in oz]

Got 16 inches of snow here.

[ihmsakiwi]

Got 16 inches of snow here.

If it helps, we got 91% humidity here today. Peter.

[kbstenberg]

Hey JonB i sure am glad those Wimps down South are getting some of the stuff that is keeping me from getting to my fishing spots.
Springfield why doncha come up here an see what winter is all about!!! Frost On The Grass. Thats for September not Feb.
Hey S.T. we are in the second round of -30s for the winter. Nite before last was -45 deg. without windchill.
Kevin

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

kbstenberg,
I broke out of my casting room yesterday.
I picked up a used Colt Trooper MKIII 357 at the gunstore for cheap, although it has a blood spot on the barrel :(

Anyway, I put 100 rds of 38 spl+p with Lee TL WC through it. it was sunny and around 0º and I was wading through about 20 inches of snow. Nice smooth trigger, with the heavier 6" bbl, it sure didn't have much kick. I think it'll be a surprise Birthday present for my daughter...I hope she's not on this forum ?

OH YEAH, lots of brass to scrouge in the trash. I guess those that come to my club's gun range to ONLY scrounge brass must go south for the winter :) There was 2 boxes of Win (white box) 38 spl fired brass, the shooter even put them back into the box for me...BTW the price tag was $19.99 >>>Wholly krap 20 bucks for a box of white box 38s WOW !!!
there was also about 50 rounds of 44 Mag incased in crusty ice/snow along with some 30-30 and some 45acp. BUT (18 hours later) my fingers are still feeling the cold...brrrr.
Jon

[crabo]

I would like to extend an invitation to all you polar bears to come visit us here in Texas in July, when it's 105 in the shade during the day and 90 at night with 90% relative humidity, and you'll see why a few days below 40 degrees qualifies as a natural disaster here! Gear

I may take you up on that.

[reloader28]

If you can find me some pigs to test out boolits on Gear, I'm coming.

We get the best of both worlds here. In the August we get 2 weeks of 105*+. When we were building our house 3 years ago it was 110*-112*.

The last couple days has been staying at -20* and thats not counting the wind. Casting boolits, feeding the fire. Casting boolits, feeding the fire. Its a terrible life.

It felt pretty nice out last night. I was standing outside without my jacket or hat taking a leak and thought the temp must be warming up. I was right. Went back inside and checked and it said -2* and 1 hour later it said 0*.

Right now it says 5* so I guess I better grab a gun and ammo and walk out to the range to test some loads while its nice.:Fire:

[Freightman]

Not wanting to rub it in as we needed the snow and all we got was a dusting and 45mph wind at 0* for a chill factor of -45. I walk the children across the street at the elementary school. You would be angry to say the least to see what some people send their children out with to keep them warm. One little third grader was walking North into the wind had no coat. I ask where is your coat? answer almost made me want to go and get violent with his parents, I misplaced it and "Dad" said I couldn't have another as he had already spent enough money this year. Yesterday he had a light hoodie which is better than nothing.
I stand out but I have about ten # of clothes. What is wrong with these people?
By the way there is no excuse for no coat as every year the community has a coat drive and we have plenty.
I have given away about ten coats to kids that were under dressed and am out, guess I need to do some more collecting.

[Chiefs50]

The only place I have to cast is in an unheated and very cramped detached garage (cement block on a poured concrete slab) so even though I'm retired I don't do as much casting as I'd like to during the winter months. Space is limited because the garage also has to house a riding mower, two walk behinds, a small utility trailer, Polaris 4 wheeler with snow plow, etc. My plan is to build a storage shed for the mowers, etc., so I have enough room to leave my smelter set up; and then insulate and install some sort of heater in the garage. Sure would be nice to have a more comfortable place in which to cast. You know, warm enough to be tolerable but not so warm as to tempt the wife to "visit" me too often. I can see it now - country tunes or old rock and roll on the radio, tea kettle whistling on the wood stove, old Coleman stove just a' humming. That's my idea of fun.

[songdog53]

Now know why have always stayed down south blood way too thin for those temps. course reckon is trade off for our summers but can always turn on box fan in shop and cool off but take lot of heat for me when that cold. As i write there is dusting of snow on ground....looks like ya'll have run over and it spilling down here. Ya'll be well and try to stay warm.

[MtGun44]

Dang - another American tragedy. ;-)

Bill