Frustration!

[armoredman]

As you may or may not know, I live in sunny Arizona. This summer has been hotter than normal, and I have been unable to cast, or even go shooting for two months now! The very few days it hasn't been hot by 8AM I had other obligations, such as taking my wife to the ER for emergency gall bladder surgery, so shooting has been out of the question. The garage registers 90+ at 7AM, can't fire up the pot. Bummer.

[nicholst55]

At least you have the winter months. I won't be able to cast, reload, or shoot for a few years, until I return to the States!

[docone31]

Wow dude, that is hot.
If you use ice, you can quench the castings.
It has been hot here also. I have not had the steam to get to the range. Here, we have heat and humidity. The humidity gets you hard.
At least there are not so many full stations during those days.
Wife doing ok?
Hey, you can always cast at midnight, either that or move the rig into the living room. I had built my house so I can cast in it. I also do jewelery casting, so I do my boolitts and work in a room I built. I have an evacuation fan that can turn around the atmosphere in the room in less than a minute.

[armoredman]

I wish I could cast inside - 7 year old and wife with asthma and other issues, so bad idea for now. I'd love to build a completely separate reloading shed, someday...
The wife is hurting, but recovering. Her gall bladder was the size and shape of an overripe bananna. Yikes. Lucky I had just started vacation. But I'll still be taking a week FMLA, too, most likely. Thank you for your concern!:)
Umm casting at midnight.....I'm not THAT frustrated! :D
Nichols, thank you being there, sir, and we'll hold a place for you at the table until you return. In the meatime, stay outa Pusan and Texas Street...if it's anything like it was when I was there in '88!

[Hang Fire]

I live in AZ on the Colorado River betwixt Bullhead City and Lake Havasu City. Don't have to worry about barrel over heating when shooting, five minutes in open sun before first round will blister you fingers on contact. (was 118 F yesterday)

I have a window mounted swamper (evaporative cooler for non-Zonies) in the garage and it does a very passable job of keeping the temps tolerable even in the monsoon season (AKA high humidity only, no rain) and keeps the garage well ventilated when casting.

[armoredman]

I make have to cut a hole in the garage to do just that! Thanks for the idea...the stucco is going to look kinda bad, though. :(

[Bret4207]

High 80's, low 90's with 60 to off the scale humidity. IE- Time for haying!!!! My 15 year old found out why you don't wear a "wife beater" shirt while stacking hay yesterday. He was scratching so must he looked like he had fleas!:mrgreen:

Casting? I haven't had time to cast or even fire a shot in months!:twisted:

[DLCTEX]

Armoredman: use a dimond blade or an abrasive blade in a skill saw to cut that stucco and the project will be neater. My swamp cooler is a life saver in my shop at town, got to get the one installed in my reloading building. We haven't been nearly as hot as you guys yet, but we are a little more humid, some days have been really sticky. Hope the wife is doing better. DALE

[bigdog454]

4207 Quit farming. That's the best thing I ever did, more time, more money, more guns now, and time to shoot. Everyone else come up north, cool; sept the winters can be a bi***, but that makes a hot smelting pot and a hot woman all the better.

[Doc Highwall]

It is days like this that I am glad that I have rifles in 22lr that are set up as much as possible like my center fire rifles. I have some Browning 1885 BPCR and a Winchester 1885 lowwall in 22lr with the same sights, so it is almost like shooting the big gun's. I have a Marlin 39a with a 16" barrel to match my 1895 with a 16.5" barrel, and a Cooper M57 to match my bolt action hunting rifles. I also have a S&W K22 to match my 38cal to 44mag pistols. Now that I gave you a good excuse to buy another gun you can always tell the wife about all the money you can save because you do not have to shoot your more expensive hand loads. Actually I always take a 22lr with me when I go to the range just for playing around and some times just the 22lr. One of the things I tell people is that when you are shooting a 22lr at 200yds, it is like shooting a 30-06 or 308 at 6-700yds with the wind drift. The best part is you do not have to pick up your brass like in the middle of the winter. I almost forgot I have a Anschutz 2313 set up just like my CG Millennium 308 Palma rifle, same sights Warner on the rear and same 22mm front sight so switching from one rifle to the other is nothing.

[docone31]

The problem with all the wives I have had over the years, they catch on.
This last one came from Los Angeles. She took longer than the other ones.
Our Suburban, it is a 3/4 ton with a 454. Now nothing beats a big block, nothing. I bored it stroked it, did some serious modifications. I did it for HER.
Our fuel mileage went up, almost twice what it was with the 454. We went from 11mpg, to 25mpg around town, and we still beat contemporary emission standards. With the price of fuel now, I plan on swapping the rear. It is a 3:43, I want to go to a 3:11. This should give us better mileage even still.
She has issues with the engine producing 650hp. She is getting down right good at it now.
She thinks I am pulling something with everything I say. It used to be simple. People do not co operate any more.
I need more rifles, pistols, reloading equipment, swageing presses, more dies, powder, different stocks, and tools. More tools.
What I really want to do, is to make our Mausers fit into original stocks as well as the Richards ones I got for them. It is hard to take a Palma rifle on a daily hunt. With the series 99 barrel, I told her it was a simple matter of inletting the barrel channel on the original stocks, modifying the furniture, and doing a complete bedding.
I do need to lift the Surburban 2", so going to get that done I should at least get a few more buckets of wheel weights. Good savings there, then we will need wheel spacers to clear the inner wheel wells. More wheel weights, more savings!
If I add a posi rear, I will not need to convert to four wheel drive, just in case we get hit by an asteroid.
I really want another Sharps, so I told her if we get a Ruger #1 in 375 H&H she can get used to the recoil.
Sometimes it feels like I just start talking, and she says NO! NO! NO!. I keep telling her it is important. She says we have enough.

[Hang Fire]

I make have to cut a hole in the garage to do just that! Thanks for the idea...the stucco is going to look kinda bad, though. :(

They make the portable space type swampers, one can wheel them around, but the large effective ones are normally more expensive than conventional ones. Alternative is to poor boy a window mount type onto a cart or wheels. One just has to make sure they are positioned so intake air is mostly from outside where humidity is lower. If dissolved solids is a problem with your water supply, either a automatic timed purge pump (dumps all water in the sump every 8 hours) or a side stream continuous discharge is a must, otherwise calcium carbonates precipitating out raises havoc with the system.

http://www.air-n-water.com/swamp-coolers-evaporative.htm

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=portable+evaporative+coolers

[armoredman]

That's an idea, thanks!

[andrew375]

Well it is 14degrees (C) here with two to three inches of rain in the process of being dumped on us today. Welcome to summer in england!:drinks:

[armoredman]

Yikes. Pass, thanks. :)

[copdills]

Good Luck Pard I am going to wait until Fall myself

[JCherry]

armoredman.

I know what you mean about the Arizona warmth. I used to live south of Gila Bend and shooting in the summer was always interesting. An uncrowded range was the only plus to the situation. Needed to take a canteen with you to walk to the 100 yard line to change a target.

I moved up to 6,500 feet elevation northeast of Phoenix and don't have those problems any more. I think today may get up to 89 or 90 degrees, it's tough but someones got to do it.

I noticed people have been suggesting swamp coolers for you. They will cool fairly well until the monsoons come in, watch everything closely because swamp coolers will cause things to start rusting very quickly.

When I was a teen ager in the late 60's I ran all over the desert without an a/c and did not even give it a second thought, anymore I wilt in about 20 minutes down there.

Have Fun,

JCherry

[DLCTEX]

Hang Fire, that's a great idea on the timed dumped of the water. I have seen water that was a crystaline slush in the cooler and pads that were rocks. I have some timers that regulate lights etc. that could be rigged for the job. DALE

[Hang Fire]

Hang Fire, that's a great idea on the timed dumped of the water. I have seen water that was a crystaline slush in the cooler and pads that were rocks. I have some timers that regulate lights etc. that could be rigged for the job. DALE

There are different brands of purge pumps, this one I use can be had at Wally World for about 45 bucks.

http://www.kennspenns.com/coolerparts/powerclean.html

We have lived here in AZ desert for 17 years and were told from the start that swampers don't work during the monsoon season, found it not to be true. We have never had a conventional AC unit, but have two 4800 cfm Mastercool evaporative units mounted on the roof, have two separate ducts that run full length of home in the attic on each side with registers in each room or area. For normal use we run units on low, but during the monsoon, switch to high. Swampers work the exact opposite from standard AC, must have very adequate ventilation to completely exchange the air in home within just a couple of minutes. Highest monthly electrical cost has never ran over 175 dollars.

I think swampers got their bad rep from people who didn't understand the concept and tried to make a close system like with an AC, with all the humidity trapped in the home, it would truly become like a swamp in short order I just checked as I type, we have four windows and one door completely open, inside temp is 76 degrees, outside it is 116 degrees. What I also like is any average Joe with the mechanical skills of a monkey can completely rebuild a swamper, they are simplicity unto themselves. Just had a original blower motor go south, picked up a good 3/4 HP for 100 bucks at Home Depot, took less than 15 minutes for swap out. Cooler pumps for water circulation run about 50 bucks. Both units are thermostatically controlled, the larger Mastercool units are more expensive, but they are IMO the best and most efficient out there. http://www.adobeair.com/whatIsEvapCooling.html


I have seen many swampers set up to discharge into duct work below the floor for air flow up from floor registers, lousy idea, cool air falls, it doesn't rise.

[armoredman]

We had both when I grew up out here, but this home just has AC. Swamp coolers can work during monsoons, but not as well. When I was knee high to a scorpion, I loved the heat, born desert rat. Now, well, guess I ain't quite so much into sweating all over the place!
JCherry, you're right, I always take a water jug when shooting, and downrange too!

[Echo]

Been here in the AZ desert for over 30 years, and had swamp cooler for the first 10 - but came down with allergy to aspergillum mold, the type that GROWS in swamp coolers, so converted to AC. Swampers are cheaper to run, but my experience was that while they sorta worked during the monsoon, sorta wasn't good enough...

[armoredman]

True. You can always tell the people who moved here or are just visiting - they have the gorgeous tans. We who grew up here do not - we learned to stay inside where it is cool!