BT Sniper
02-10-2016, 05:55 AM
(It seems I have written a book here, yet it is only one chapter in the monumental book that is my life of stress relief gone bad. As it pertains to my attempt to go shoot the new swaged bullets I have made and the challenging adventure it became I have posted it here ware many know me and my history with testing these new bullets. If the mods feel this "story" needs to be moved to a more appropriate forum please feel free to move it as necessary. Is there a forum titled "Stress Relief Gone Bad?" If not maybe there should be :). For everyone else feel free to laugh, cry and possibly relate, to the story here that unfolds and feel free to share your own adventures of travels to and from the range. I bet many of use have got there and forgot, ammo, rests, and I bet there is even some out there that drove all the way to the range and forgot the guns :) )
I seem to have more of "those" type of days then I care to remember. A much needed day to relieve the stress of life, a day that will allow you to get threw the next several days, weeks, months or even longer, a day in which the weather clears and the wind is calm, a day the wife says "I'll watch the kids, go have fun, you deserve it," a day you prepared for with new swaged bullets with new loads to tryout, a day spent at the range doing what you enjoy, what makes you happy............ ONLY TO HAVE THE WHOLE DAY GO DOWN THE DRAIN!
I think I have had enough days like this I could write a book. So here's my story of 2-9-2016, it is a story that sadly has been repeated now at least three times in my history, the last two events are so identical yet spanned the course of 8 years, nearly to the day!
Looking at the weather report for this week showed a three day window of clear skies, temps in the 50s and little to no wind. Monday (yesterday) was perfect yet I wasn't ready, a short night of sleep left me dragging my feet yet I was able to swage and load 30 of my latest 130 grain 6mm vld bullets, clean and polish the 243AI Shilen barrel since it came back from Nitride and mount it to the Savage action. The gun was ready. I loaded up many different loads hoping that the 8 twist of the 26" barrel would be able to stabilize the long 130 grain pills. Figured I would need to test them at long range to see how well they would fly. This meant a trip to my range in the woods where I have targets set up to 600+ yrds and a spot to mount my shooting table, rather then go to the closer 100yrd shooting spot in the woods that is not near as good or as fun to shoot at.
So the gun is ready, the new bullets are loaded, the truck is packed and ready to go for Tuesday! Weather report still looks good and I got a much needed good nights sleep. I woke up excited and ready to go, I figured what the heck, I'll bring a couple more guns, a 223 BWH barreled rifle that I needed to break in and a CBI barreled 223 rifle I haven't shot since it came back from nitride. Kids are off to school, wife is off to work and I am out the door by 9AM, which is pretty good for me getting on the way to the range.
The sun is shining, the air is calm, good tunes are playing on the radio, I have visions of shooting small groups with a new, unheard of, 130 grain 6mm VLD bullet. I continue my drive, gaining elevation turing off the pavement on to the gravel road leading up into the hills. I make it past the spot in the road where I had to turn around 2 weeks earlier do to the amount of snow and I continue on. Only a couple more miles to go and a bit more elevation to gain. The snow gets deeper, I put the truck in 4 wheel drive and continue on. I make it to the top and can now look down upon the area for which I do all my shooting. Yet now I am the first to track down the snow covered road, up until this point I had others' tracks to follow making the progress a bit easier, now I would be blazing first tracks threw the hard frozen snow. No problem, it is all down hill to my shooting spot now, no more then 600 yrds away.
I easily drive down the snowy road and come to the first switch back, a location that was exposed to the afternoon sun and free from snow. The last 200 yrds of road had been in a shaded spot not getting any sun so the snow had piled up pretty good. The outside temp was still at or below freezing this early in the morning and it was at this bare ground switch back that I had the first though enter my mind of ..... "maybe this isn't worth it," with the knowledge of the previous experience I had driving on the frozen top layer of snow, my next thought was "when it warms up it is going to get slippery and make it a challenge to get back up this 200 yrd portion of uphill road" that had gather nearly two feet of snow. I thought I was smart, I figured if anything was going to happen I better find out now rather then go shooting all day and find out an hour before dark, so I turn around feeling good about my decision to not chance going any further..... yet my fate was already in the hands of the shooting gods because unknown to me..... I had already gone too far and proceeded to bury my truck in the snow up to the floor boards after not making it more then 50 yrds! (Funny how this incident is exactly how I have buried my truck twice in the past, after turning around!)
**** and a few other explicit words where mentioned as I got out to survey my predicament. The time was 10am and I wasn't completely unprepared, I did have a shovel, plenty of water, good boots and a cell phone, but to attempt to dig the truck out of the snow was going to be pointless as it only got deeper and steeper ahead. Two phone calls to friends revealed no one home so it was time (Again) to call the wife and tell here it happened again. For it was 8 years ago I did the exact same thing, getting stuck in the snow after I had turned around to come back down. Eight years ago that I was knee deep in diapers as my girls where not yet two years old, so the stress relief was needed even more so back then. Now getting myself stuck again a second time I felt like an expert, though something not to be proud of. I called the wife and told here to meet me ware the pavement ends, it was only three miles ago! Not that far in good walking conditions for a half in shape individual but I am far from halfway in shape and the road was steep and covered in snow and tire ruts making walking difficult, but two hours later I had made it down the mountain and got back to town.
Now back at home I grabbed a couple needed items and one quick stop to the tire store to pick up two sets of chains totaling $250 worth had me back on the road to dig out my truck. I figured I better buy two sets of chains, if I can get out with only using one pair I could return the other unused.
The time is now 12:00 noon and I am driving back up to the top of the hill in the family SUV followed by a quick walk down the short distance to my truck. I got the pleasure of experiencing my first time attempting to put chains on a tire that was buried in a foot and a half of snow. What a lot of fun that was! An hour passes and I get the chains on the back tires. I break free from the snow making short progress, 10' forward and then 5' back to make another run at it. I played this little two steps forward one step back game and made maybe 20 feet worth of forward progress before I got bold and gunned it, trying to go for more, at which time I buried the truck deep enough that not even the chained back tires could budge me. More explicit words where mentioned and my hopes for returning the second set of chains to recoup half the $250 was out the window. I was able to get the chains on the front tires quicker then I had the back, everything is quicker the second time they say. Now I am able to continue my dance of two steps forward and one back until finally.... I make it back to the top, the time is now 3:30pm.
So there I was with two trucks at the top of the hills. I had to go back into town a second time to get the wife and kids so I can get both trucks back into town. (a little side note, my wife grew up in California so driving down the mountain in challenging snow covered roads wasn't much fun for her.) I picked my wife and kids up from her work at 4:15pm (it gets dark at 5:15pm so I knew there was little time to waste)
We all make it back up to my truck, gaze at the view and start the process of getting us all back down the hill for the last time. Luckily everyone stayed out of the ditch and free from getting stuck again. Once we were down the hill far enough that the snow no longer covered the road I waved them on and pulled over to now enjoy for the first time, the experience of taking off 2 sets of tire chains in the cold, wet and mud covered ground. Now it is after 5pm and starting to get dark fast. I actually contemplated taking the rifle out of the back and taking a few last minute shots before it got totally dark. Luckily this time I listened to my inner self and said "no, better get the chains off and call it a day." So I rolled around in the cold mud for another 20 minutes and managed to get the chains off, it was just as much fun as putting them on for sure.
My day started at 9am with fun filled shooting enjoyment on my mind and ended at 6PM after walking more then 3 miles, digging my truck out of the snow twice, spending $250 on a complete set of chains that if I am smart I will never need to use again, all in the attempt of a bit of stress relief without ever firing one shot! Although several times I felt like shooting something other then the paper targets I brought with me, my truck isn't that valuable anyway :) actually felt like leaving it there till spring to tell you the truth.
Now it is 2am and we shall see how I feel when I wake up in the morning, if I attempt to go out shooting again, this time at a lower elevation location with no snow, but something tells me I might just enjoy a good soak in a hot tub with hopes to get out shooting again the next time a good stretch of weather comes my way. We shall see!
Good shooting and swage on!
Brian
I seem to have more of "those" type of days then I care to remember. A much needed day to relieve the stress of life, a day that will allow you to get threw the next several days, weeks, months or even longer, a day in which the weather clears and the wind is calm, a day the wife says "I'll watch the kids, go have fun, you deserve it," a day you prepared for with new swaged bullets with new loads to tryout, a day spent at the range doing what you enjoy, what makes you happy............ ONLY TO HAVE THE WHOLE DAY GO DOWN THE DRAIN!
I think I have had enough days like this I could write a book. So here's my story of 2-9-2016, it is a story that sadly has been repeated now at least three times in my history, the last two events are so identical yet spanned the course of 8 years, nearly to the day!
Looking at the weather report for this week showed a three day window of clear skies, temps in the 50s and little to no wind. Monday (yesterday) was perfect yet I wasn't ready, a short night of sleep left me dragging my feet yet I was able to swage and load 30 of my latest 130 grain 6mm vld bullets, clean and polish the 243AI Shilen barrel since it came back from Nitride and mount it to the Savage action. The gun was ready. I loaded up many different loads hoping that the 8 twist of the 26" barrel would be able to stabilize the long 130 grain pills. Figured I would need to test them at long range to see how well they would fly. This meant a trip to my range in the woods where I have targets set up to 600+ yrds and a spot to mount my shooting table, rather then go to the closer 100yrd shooting spot in the woods that is not near as good or as fun to shoot at.
So the gun is ready, the new bullets are loaded, the truck is packed and ready to go for Tuesday! Weather report still looks good and I got a much needed good nights sleep. I woke up excited and ready to go, I figured what the heck, I'll bring a couple more guns, a 223 BWH barreled rifle that I needed to break in and a CBI barreled 223 rifle I haven't shot since it came back from nitride. Kids are off to school, wife is off to work and I am out the door by 9AM, which is pretty good for me getting on the way to the range.
The sun is shining, the air is calm, good tunes are playing on the radio, I have visions of shooting small groups with a new, unheard of, 130 grain 6mm VLD bullet. I continue my drive, gaining elevation turing off the pavement on to the gravel road leading up into the hills. I make it past the spot in the road where I had to turn around 2 weeks earlier do to the amount of snow and I continue on. Only a couple more miles to go and a bit more elevation to gain. The snow gets deeper, I put the truck in 4 wheel drive and continue on. I make it to the top and can now look down upon the area for which I do all my shooting. Yet now I am the first to track down the snow covered road, up until this point I had others' tracks to follow making the progress a bit easier, now I would be blazing first tracks threw the hard frozen snow. No problem, it is all down hill to my shooting spot now, no more then 600 yrds away.
I easily drive down the snowy road and come to the first switch back, a location that was exposed to the afternoon sun and free from snow. The last 200 yrds of road had been in a shaded spot not getting any sun so the snow had piled up pretty good. The outside temp was still at or below freezing this early in the morning and it was at this bare ground switch back that I had the first though enter my mind of ..... "maybe this isn't worth it," with the knowledge of the previous experience I had driving on the frozen top layer of snow, my next thought was "when it warms up it is going to get slippery and make it a challenge to get back up this 200 yrd portion of uphill road" that had gather nearly two feet of snow. I thought I was smart, I figured if anything was going to happen I better find out now rather then go shooting all day and find out an hour before dark, so I turn around feeling good about my decision to not chance going any further..... yet my fate was already in the hands of the shooting gods because unknown to me..... I had already gone too far and proceeded to bury my truck in the snow up to the floor boards after not making it more then 50 yrds! (Funny how this incident is exactly how I have buried my truck twice in the past, after turning around!)
**** and a few other explicit words where mentioned as I got out to survey my predicament. The time was 10am and I wasn't completely unprepared, I did have a shovel, plenty of water, good boots and a cell phone, but to attempt to dig the truck out of the snow was going to be pointless as it only got deeper and steeper ahead. Two phone calls to friends revealed no one home so it was time (Again) to call the wife and tell here it happened again. For it was 8 years ago I did the exact same thing, getting stuck in the snow after I had turned around to come back down. Eight years ago that I was knee deep in diapers as my girls where not yet two years old, so the stress relief was needed even more so back then. Now getting myself stuck again a second time I felt like an expert, though something not to be proud of. I called the wife and told here to meet me ware the pavement ends, it was only three miles ago! Not that far in good walking conditions for a half in shape individual but I am far from halfway in shape and the road was steep and covered in snow and tire ruts making walking difficult, but two hours later I had made it down the mountain and got back to town.
Now back at home I grabbed a couple needed items and one quick stop to the tire store to pick up two sets of chains totaling $250 worth had me back on the road to dig out my truck. I figured I better buy two sets of chains, if I can get out with only using one pair I could return the other unused.
The time is now 12:00 noon and I am driving back up to the top of the hill in the family SUV followed by a quick walk down the short distance to my truck. I got the pleasure of experiencing my first time attempting to put chains on a tire that was buried in a foot and a half of snow. What a lot of fun that was! An hour passes and I get the chains on the back tires. I break free from the snow making short progress, 10' forward and then 5' back to make another run at it. I played this little two steps forward one step back game and made maybe 20 feet worth of forward progress before I got bold and gunned it, trying to go for more, at which time I buried the truck deep enough that not even the chained back tires could budge me. More explicit words where mentioned and my hopes for returning the second set of chains to recoup half the $250 was out the window. I was able to get the chains on the front tires quicker then I had the back, everything is quicker the second time they say. Now I am able to continue my dance of two steps forward and one back until finally.... I make it back to the top, the time is now 3:30pm.
So there I was with two trucks at the top of the hills. I had to go back into town a second time to get the wife and kids so I can get both trucks back into town. (a little side note, my wife grew up in California so driving down the mountain in challenging snow covered roads wasn't much fun for her.) I picked my wife and kids up from her work at 4:15pm (it gets dark at 5:15pm so I knew there was little time to waste)
We all make it back up to my truck, gaze at the view and start the process of getting us all back down the hill for the last time. Luckily everyone stayed out of the ditch and free from getting stuck again. Once we were down the hill far enough that the snow no longer covered the road I waved them on and pulled over to now enjoy for the first time, the experience of taking off 2 sets of tire chains in the cold, wet and mud covered ground. Now it is after 5pm and starting to get dark fast. I actually contemplated taking the rifle out of the back and taking a few last minute shots before it got totally dark. Luckily this time I listened to my inner self and said "no, better get the chains off and call it a day." So I rolled around in the cold mud for another 20 minutes and managed to get the chains off, it was just as much fun as putting them on for sure.
My day started at 9am with fun filled shooting enjoyment on my mind and ended at 6PM after walking more then 3 miles, digging my truck out of the snow twice, spending $250 on a complete set of chains that if I am smart I will never need to use again, all in the attempt of a bit of stress relief without ever firing one shot! Although several times I felt like shooting something other then the paper targets I brought with me, my truck isn't that valuable anyway :) actually felt like leaving it there till spring to tell you the truth.
Now it is 2am and we shall see how I feel when I wake up in the morning, if I attempt to go out shooting again, this time at a lower elevation location with no snow, but something tells me I might just enjoy a good soak in a hot tub with hopes to get out shooting again the next time a good stretch of weather comes my way. We shall see!
Good shooting and swage on!
Brian