Nevada Cast Boolit Shoot 2005

[ammohead]

BruceB, Howdy Pard,

Stick around? Heck you couldn't drive me off with a stick. It took me a long time to get internet access at home again. I plan on sticking around and visiting often. Any recommendations for a heavier boolit in my new smith? I am leaning toward a round flat nose 255 from lee, but could use some guidance. (that's an understatement, more like constant supervision). Another that has caught my eye is the rcbs saa 270. I don't want a gas check and don't think I am going to be attempting velocities that would need one. Not with a 4" bbl. Besides if I go heavy enough velocity shouldn't be needed.

Every year we are hearing about more bear encounters around these parts. California traps nuisance bears in Yosemite and relocates them wherever they get away with it. Quite a few end up in the Bridgeport area and many of them wander east and north to find new territory. I was talking to my dentist the other day showing him my new toy and he told of a sheepherder from South America that a sheep outfit he is part of hired to watch sheep in the sierras. The poor soul had the bad luck to be mauled 2 years in a row. By the same damned bear! Really messed him up the second time around. He said adios and went back home to stay.

I seriously doubt that I will ever have such an encounter, but I do poke around a bit in the nevada outback and I wanted something with more punch than my security six in 357 and didn't want to carry my 7.5" 44 mag. As with the 357, I have been practicing only in double action mode and the s&w is a real sweety. I plan to be ready for the stake shoot. I can't wait.

I filed some more paper work with GE my new hopeful employer. I would like to make the transition during the shoot but am running out of time. Sure would like to join Buckshot and Al in Cedarville.

ammohead

[BruceB]

Well now....(BruceB senses a fish nibbling on his line)

It just so happens, ol' buddy ol' pal, that I find myself with a rather large assortment of goodies for the .45 Colt, and NO gun to use them in.

Don't buy ANYTHING until you get here for the Shoot, because I can probably git you fitted out with whatever you need in .45 Colt.

My info sez that S&W is now making their .45 Colt cylinders with proper-sized throats, so the bad old days of trying to find boolits of .457 or more will have no effect with your new roscoe. I was looking rather hard at one of them black 25-13s here, too, but so far have not yielded.

I have several decent moulds available, and more importantly there's a large-ish selection of ready-cast boolits which you're welcome to take home and try for the usual friendly price ($zero). Some are sized-'n-lubed, others nekkid. They include the 255 454190, RN with a small flat meplat, which sounds a lot like the Lee you're contemplating. Also 454424, I think, and another two or three as well, including RCBS' 45-255 Keith SWC. On hand as well are several hundred rounds of once- or twice-fired brass, and a set of RCBS "Cowboy" dies which you may like. Have a .454" sizer, too, but I may hang on to that item.

When we lived in the bush in the Northwest Territories, due to bears and wolves, I NEVER left the house without a .44 Magnum, at least, unless I was hauling a rifle, and even then if you looked closely there'd likely be a suspicious bulge under my coat. A 250-grain .45 Colt load running 900 or 1000 fps will go right through a black bear, and most probably break some bones en route. What a great confidence builder!

Remember those old Colt ads, that used the line "A Colt says..."??? The one I liked best showed a lone cowhand reaching for his SAA while looking over his shoulder into the dark away from his campfire, and the caption was something like, "A Colt says..... night... firelight... snapped twig.... confidence." Exactly, and your S&W will do the same.

Bring money so's I can liberate this here SAECO #021 mould from onceabull!

This Shoot is gonna be fun!

[BruceB]

Please 'scuse my long-winded discourse with ammohead, people.

Now then.

The Griddle at say, ONE P.M. on Friday the 6th to avoid the worst of the lunch crowd....would that be OK?

Rools Kommittee dinner on Friday night, what do y'all think? Back to the Flying Pig, or there's a mainstream American-style restaurant (Sid's) almost beside the Pig that also has a back room, and they have good grub too. Las Margaritas is also available.

BBQ at Ragged Ass Ranch for Saturday night, (bring yer own meat and drinkables, other "stuff" provided) as per the last couple years still seems like a fine idear to me. Unfortunately, The Friends of the NRA have their annual dinner/auction/raffle/fundraiser that same night. I wish there was a way to coordinate, but I don't see how.

Naturally, our closing Sunday dinner will be at Ormachea's, a gourmet-quality Basque dinner house and the now-traditional wind-up location.

The Shoot....

We'll have the normal events as in years past, with the addition of scoped peestola as Curmudgeon mentioned above. These events include scoped and iron sight rifle, both for group and score, plus handgun for score and a lot of other fun things to do.

TimB just asked if I'd "mind" if he and his wife Lori set up a Cowboy Action stage for us to shoot. MIND??? Just remember to bring any Old West hawglegs and rifles you have laying about...myself, I'm gonna shoot it with my Walker Colt! I asked Tim to set it up so we wouldn't need the regular load of artillery the SASS folks use, like TWO revolvers, a rifle and a shotgun, to compete in a regular Cowboy shoot.

45nut suggested helium ballons as a sporting target, which I thought was a fine idea. After some thought and research, I think we can avoid the complications of helium by building a long crossbar at reasonable height and letting the balloons dangle from the bar. With about...hmmm, maybe twenty balloons blowing in every vagrant breeze at fifty or sixty yards for each team, this would make a VERY sporting proposition for team pistol. Shortest time to break all targets wins, of course. Anybody happen to own a proper stopwatch? If so, bring 'er along, please.

Team rifle will again be fired on clays, but we were also thinking about moving them out to 60 or 75 yards.

I haven't given up yet, in the search for a place to shoot further than 100 yards, but time's getting short.

The Big Question: WHO'S GOING TO ATTEND???

So far, Curmudgeon, Deputy AL, Buckshot, TimB and Lori, Urny, ammohead, onceabull and Mrsbull,.....who did I miss (apologies!)???

[Buckshot]

..........Ammohead, Deputy Al and I will depart these environs about 2100 Monday night, for an approx 0800 arrival in Cedarville. There is only ONE motel in town, on highway 299 westbound out of town. We'll check in there. Allan has hooked back up with his contacts there in Cedarville. One of the places they'd recommended was a field we used 2 years ago. At that time it was an unturned oat field and the rodents looked like gray question marks out in it. The stubble was high enough that they had to sit up to see over it, "Blam!". This is a big field right across the highway from the cemetary on the south side of town.

Last year we had a good field south and west of town, but the squirrels were running on the small and VERY stupid side. It was mostly 22RF action sitting or on 'walkabout'. We both did get in a couple 200 yard shots but they were slim and you had to be fast as they'd run from bush to bush. Don't know if we'll have the use of that field again.

Allan is talking to the county ag agent to try and widen things up a bit too. Two years ago we'd also hooked up with another farmer who allowed us to shoot in a couple of his fields but we didn't check in with him last year.

We'll pull out Thursday afternoon and get into W late Thursday night. We WON'T be crossing the Sheldon Antelope preserve!

................Buckshot

[ammohead]

Buckshot,

The earliest I would be able to make cedarville in a perfect world would be Tuesday night. Not sure that it would be worth the trip for a half days shooting. If your not crossing the sheldon what other route to Winnemucca takes 2 days. Never mind, we are talking Nevada, and what happens in Nevada......Lot's of sightseeing to do here.

ammohead

[ammohead]

BruceB,

I was just looking for a hint or two, I should have known that the options with this crowd go way beyond that. This is great news. I will put any purchase on hold for now, and look everything over in a couple of weeks. I knew I was asking the right guy.

You are right about the cylinder throats. I have a 452 sizer that I think I got from jumptrap. Sized thusly the 200 gr lymans push through with gentle pressure. So I am guessing .4525? No leading at all so far with factory Black Hills and some other cheaper stuff. Had to get brass somehow. I have since ordered 250 rounds of unprimed rem brass.

ammohead

[ammohead]

bdoyle,

There is a RV place on the east end of town. Hi-Desert RV Park 775 623-4513. They are in the big Reno phone book yellow pages. Go through town and just before you get to the I80 onramps on the east end of town hang a right on E Winnemucca Blvd and go about a half mile they are on the left. There are 2 RV parks there. I think the second one is Hi-Desert. I stayed there a couple of times for the shoot. Quite resonable.

How long have you been in Gville? I moved to Carson Valley in 83 and then to Smith Valley in 89. Have been here since. Ever go to The French for a cold one?

ammohead

[MT Gianni]

I would love to get there again. Matt dropped out of high school and is in a National guard youth challenge program. He has his GED and a home week may 1-7 and has to be in Dillon at 2:00 pm sat. I wouldn't feel right leaving him thursday with everthing esle he has been through and the committments he has yet to make. Gianni.

[bdoyle]

ammohead,
I saw that Hi-Desert rv park when I searched for parks around Winnemucca. I'll call tomorrow for reservations.

I've lived in Gardnerville since '91 when the company I work for started a facility in Carson City. I'm back on Foothill near Kingsbury Grade.

I'm planning on going but I'm really wondering what the weather is going to do.
Brian

[nevada duke]

Ahah, this is where you guys are hiding out. Curmudgeon sent me a road map and here I am. Ammohead, and Montana Gianni, a big how ya been. I hope to be there Friday in time for the Griddle reunion, I love that place. My oldest son Eric cannot make it this year, other obligations. Dan from Denio says he will be there to shoot on Saturday. He says the squirrel hunting has been really bad up there because of the cold weather and wind this year. Might be good later than usual.

Looking forward,, Nevada duke is over and out.

[Buckshot]

..............Ammohead, I made a mistake on the departure from Cedarville. It's Thursday afternoon, not Wednesday! Arrive 'W' Thursday night.

Year before last we were going to attempt the Sheldon. No one in Cedarville could give us definative information about the dirt roads. Allan and I stopped at a NV maint of way station a few miles before you get to it. The guys there confired and suggested if we'd been in two 4x4's with a winch and no particular deadline, we'd probably have a blast crossing it. Apparently some of the washouts were pretty spectacular.

I liked the signs about the hot springs, "Stay out, Stay alive"!

We drove north from there past Alkali Lake (all dirt roads) skirting the Sheldon and hooking up with 140 just across the OR-NV line, then south. While desolate, the scenery was interesting and varied. Talk about long range shooting possiblities!

It would be neat if you could join us, but it IS a drive.

...............Buckshot

[ammohead]

Buckshot,

That maint station would have been Vya. I came from 140 to Vya across the Sheldon. It wasn't that bad, but not volkswagen roads either. When 140 drops back into NV you are in the north 1/4 of the Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge. Top of the world huh. Towards Vya from there is a smaller area called the Charles Sheldon Antelope Range I have yet to check that out, but it is really only a small portion of the Sheldon.

Whether I can make Cedarville really hinges on changing jobs and when it happens. I am kinda walking on eggshells right now. I am more than ready to make the move. And I think that the people I am talking to at GE want to hire me, but with companies that big you just don't know till you get it in writing. If I get the goahead I am ready to make Tue the third my last day at my present job starting the following Tue at GE. The last guy that gave his notice at work got fired the next day. So I am not clinging to a 2 week notice plan, and they will get what they get. We'll see. At the very least I plan on being at the rools committee meeting but probably will show up a little late.

ammohead

[ammohead]

I'm planning on going but I'm really wondering what the weather is going to do.
Brian

Brian,

This is Nevada. If you don't like the weather, just wait 10 minutes, it will change. Last year we had snow on Friday morning but by afternoon it was a gorgeous day and a great weekend followed. Granted it is tough to guarantee perfect weather this early in May, but heck we used to do it in April.

Don't miss this. I guarantee that you won't be disappointed. This is a great bunch of people. The B's are gracious hosts and everyone comments that you get the feeling you have always known everyone. Of course via the internet you already do.

The first meeting at Topaz we didn't even know what each others real names were or what each other looked like other than the pictures on castpics. But we all made it to Topaz Lodge and found each other no problem. Some kind of built in homing device or something. Looking forward to meeting you in Winnemucca

ammohead

[NVcurmudgeon]

Ammohead, Good observation on Nevada weather. My father hated Nevada about as much as I love it. He was born and raised in PA and was hitching and busing his way to CA in 1934. The bus stopped in Tonopah for lunch and my father claimed that within 40 minutes it snowed eight inches and then the wind blew it away! After that experience you couldn't get him out of CA with dynamite.

[BruceB]

I forgot a couple of names on the last list, for which I hope my apologies are accepted. These were 45nut and ben1025. With any luck Duke should be here, and maybe PaulB might just heal-up a bit and make it???

Based on current info, this is shaping up like a reduced version of previous versions. Not near as many people will be attending, unless there's a sudden influx of candidates. We'll still haver a fine time, guaranteed!

No-one has indicated any preferences on programs and restaurants, so I'll take care of that.

We'll meet at The Griddle at 1 pm next Friday and take it from there. Weather is forecast to be the pits until Thursady, but I trust it will improve by Saturday when the shootin' starts.

[onceabull]

BruceB: Not directly on topic,but worthy of note: Elisa Carlsen,Winnemucca,NV. Named one of the"Ten best" graduating Srs.2005 at Boise State U. by the Alumni Assoc. To be honored at the Assoc.Annual banquet tonight.. Straight out of this AM's Gannett Corp. local fishwrapper..Should you come up Elisa,or family,congrats. in order... Onceabull

[45nut]

Bruce,
I will certainly be attending the festivities in Winnemucca.
My one and only for darn tooting sure vacation. I have been sizing and lubing boolits like a madman. Hope to get ammo aplenty ready and boxed this week.
Getting a new pistola anyday now,A Ruger 357 Maximum.
Old and derised by the gun-liars at the time as prone to throat erosion due to their penchant for making the obviously poor choice of shooting light as in 110gr jacketed instead of a proper boolit of 180grs or above. This really oughta be a great gun,been lusting after one since 82 when they were first made.
See ya next friday.

[nevada duke]

Bruce B, barring medical emergencies or comet strikes, I will be there, probably at the Griddle by 1pm. Do you want me to bring the BBQ again? I am really looking forward to this year's event, having missed last year.

I just got finished loading the match-grade 30-06 cast boolit ammo for our O3A3, and am getting started on the new rifle in the house, the CZ model 527 carbine in 7.62x39. It shows promise as a platform for cast bullets, but is still in the development stage and needs to be bedded I think. Eric (Wheel man) will not be able to attend due to work load. I will also be bringing the BITCH, the .243 that sometimes shoots well, sometimes not. I have the ammo already loaded, ready since last year. I have also been shooting a Sharps replica in 45-70, will probably bring it just for the fun factor. And of course some lead slinging handguns, but nothing new there.

Looking forward to seeing all of you, Nevada duke is over and out.

[Buckshot]

....................I got all my Winnemucca cast boolit loading done Thursday. I haven't even shot the M1917 Enfield but I have 50 rounds loaded up for it and it's coming. Then 100 rounds of 6.5 Swede, 70 rnds of 30-40 for the Steyr M95 conversion and finally 60 rnds of 8x57 for the 1888 Turked Commission. I'm only hauling the K38 Smith up for pistol work and have 350 rnds for it.

All set for Cedarville we're hitting on the way up. 150 rnds of 223 for the M112 Savage, and 1000 rnds of 22RF for the M582 Rem and Ruger MkII. I hope we can shoot all that up in 3 days!

..............Buckshot

[BruceB]

Awright, some of you fellers will be leaving home very soon so...

Remember, those in Winnemucca on Friday can meet at The Griddle at ONE P.M. for lunch, general foolishness and a few minor organizational matters. THe Griddle is on Winnemucca Boulevard, the main drag, and very easy to find.

ROOLS KOMMITTEE (all shooters who attend are members) will meet at THE FLYING PIG at 6 p.m. Friday evening. For newcomers, the Pig is also right on the main drag in the same general area as Raleys' supermarket and across from the Model T casino. Pretty hard to miss it, 'specially with the pink-neon porkers flopping around on their signs....

We'll try for an 8am start on Saturday at the range, which is located on Highway 95. Heading north on 95 from downtown, it's only about a mile before you will see our Veterans' Park with tanks, guns, airplanes etc. Turn off the highway at that intersection, and then IMMMEDIATELY turn right on the dirt road through the cattleguard. The range is well marked about a quarter-mile from the cattleguard (if that far).

The weather forecast looks kinda iffy. Right now they're calling for 30% chance of rain on both Saturday and Sunday with scattered thunderboomers. We'll see, I guess.