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A good day to shoot.

Old 04-28-2016, 02:52 PM
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Dominant Buck
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Default A good day to shoot.

It was a beautiful day today. Nice and warm, in the 40's and just a light 7 mph wind from the east that don't affect my shooting range too much in the woods. With the snow gone, I was out fixing my PVC target stand as winter was rough on it. So I threw a paper target on it at 44 yards and went to the house.

I stood and stared at the rack of rifles for about five minutes. I just couldn't make up my mind. I knew I wanted flintlock. So I had to decide how hard of cleaning I wanted. Well I took the custom .54 caliber made by Tennessee Valley Muzzleloading.

With all the necessities gathered I moved to the shooting bench. First I tried two off hand shots. Boy was that a mistake. They were about seven inches apart. So I sat at the bench and took my time. That Colerain barrel with 90 grains of 2f Schuetzen black powder and a .530 round ball was pure heaven. Five shots, six o'clock hold under the bull and all of them in a 2 inch circle.

Then for kicks I upped the charge to 110 grains of powder, same ball and patch and tried that. I was surprised that it shot basically in the same spot as the 90 grains of powder. I was going to kick it up some more but figured ... what's the use. I am never going to hunt with more powder then that. We burned off five shots there, and the group did start to drift upward a little. Not much mind you. But some.

So we went back to off and shooting. The swamped barrel did help my hold but honestly people ... I stink at off hand shooting. I would have photographed the target but with the off hand hits, it looked terrible.

So finally into the house, cleaning water, ice tea, and the Sirius XM radio on my favorite channel, I sat and cleaned that bad boy up perfect and put it back in its place. Sometimes you just got to burn some powder.
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Old 04-28-2016, 05:52 PM
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Hooray! A shooting report. Thanks Cayugad, we needed a read.

Sounds like you had an enjoyable session. Like you, I stink at offhand. But that's OK because I'm hardly ever in a situation where I can't take a rest. (That's my "feel good" excuse anyway. )

I agree with your thoughts regarding powder charge. Most of my hunting loads are in the 85 to 95 grain range. Although my .58 seems to really like 105 grains.

I hope to contribute a shooting report pretty soon. My wife's knee replacement surgery two weeks ago went really well and she's now getting back on her feet; able to get up from a chair by herself and walk reasonable distances without the aid of a walker. So I expect to get a break from my nurse/cook/housekeeper duties this weekend. I hope the dang weather cooperates and gives me a rain free Saturday.
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Old 04-28-2016, 07:38 PM
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Good to hear wifey is doing better Semi. They gonna cut me again and do the full replacement in a couple weeks (what I WANTED them to do in the first place!) so I'll have plenty of time for rehab before hunting season. Told me Doc if I was down for another season I was gonna hunt HIM and mount HIM on the wall! I think the poor guy took me a bit too seriously. Ever seen a guy turn whiter than brand new sheets? Wife told me "I don't think you realize your facial expressions when you think you might not get to hunt"

Glad you got to get out and make some smoke today Cayu. I had fun with my daughters Impact as well. For your off hand shooting, try shortening your for-arm extension. Bring your hand back a bit towards the trigger and pull the rifle just a smidge tighter to the shoulder. May help. You're a bigger guy like me. That really helped my off hand shooting. But at my age, I carry me a shooting stick now.
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Old 04-28-2016, 08:14 PM
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Originally Posted by Semisane
Hooray! A shooting report. Thanks Cayugad, we needed a read.

Sounds like you had an enjoyable session. Like you, I stink at offhand. But that's OK because I'm hardly ever in a situation where I can't take a rest. (That's my "feel good" excuse anyway. )

I agree with your thoughts regarding powder charge. Most of my hunting loads are in the 85 to 95 grain range. Although my .58 seems to really like 105 grains.

I hope to contribute a shooting report pretty soon. My wife's knee replacement surgery two weeks ago went really well and she's now getting back on her feet; able to get up from a chair by herself and walk reasonable distances without the aid of a walker. So I expect to get a break from my nurse/cook/housekeeper duties this weekend. I hope the dang weather cooperates and gives me a rain free Saturday.
Since a knee replacement surgery is advised by the orthopedic surgeon for me, I am curious about your wife's healing time. Living alone, if a person is very bull headed, could they take care of themselves? I once had a broken leg and did all the house work, cooking, you name it, on crutches. When I left the hospital they said I would need a "care giver" but I told them it was too expensive to get rid of the last one and I'd handle it myself.

I am glad to hear she is getting around. I was told there is not a lot of pain in the procedure, but I never did trust a doctor's subjective estimation of pain. They tend to think pain is crying for mercy and begging someone to shoot you, when you are finally in pain.
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Old 04-28-2016, 08:16 PM
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Glad you got to get out and make some smoke today Cayu. I had fun with my daughters Impact as well. For your off hand shooting, try shortening your for-arm extension. Bring your hand back a bit towards the trigger and pull the rifle just a smidge tighter to the shoulder. May help. You're a bigger guy like me. That really helped my off hand shooting. But at my age, I carry me a shooting stick now.
Actually with the swamped barrel your hand is almost back to the trigger guard where it balances. I did do a little better the second time I tried. But I found the trick was ... pull up, on target, FIRE! And it seemed to do better that way.
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Old 04-28-2016, 08:52 PM
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I am curious about your wife's healing time. Living alone, if a person is very bull headed, could they take care of themselves?
I guess it depends on how well the surgery goes. My wife is a pretty tough old gal with a high pain tolerance. The nurses and physical therapist all said her recovery progress was better than most.

Her surgery was on the morning of 4/13 (one knee). She was able to get out of bed and stand up with help by early morning on 4/14, and take a dozen steps or so with a walker. She was discharged from the hospital in the early evening of 4/14. The next morning she could get out of bed and stand up with a walker to make her way to the bathroom and living room.

Although she could sit down on a kitchen chair and stand up to the walker on her own, she could not stand up from a recliner or sofa without help because of the soft/low seat position. It was a little over a week before she could stand up from her recliner without help. Also, there is a motion machine that flexes the knee, which is used for two hours, twice a day for ten days post-surgery. I don't see how she (or anyone) could set that up and get strapped into without help. Following her doctor's protocol (it may be standard everywhere?) she had a visiting nurse three days a week to assess the healing process/swelling and change the dressing on the incision. And a physical therapist three times a week that worked her through a 30 minute stretching/exercise routine. Her stamina level was pretty low for the first week, and she slept a lot. She may have been able to make a sandwich or get something from the fridge. But no way could she have prepared a meal.

She had some pretty potent pain medication prescribed that could be taken four times a day. But she got along with Ibuprofen during the day and took the serious stuff at bedtime. Most of the time when the nurse or therapist asked her to describe her pain level on a scale of 1-10, she said she was in the 4/5 range. That dropped to the 2/3 level after a week.

I really don't see how you could get along totally on your own. You could probably get by with someone with you for two or three hours in the morning and two or three in the evening for the first five days or so, and tough it out after that.

Last edited by Semisane; 04-28-2016 at 08:54 PM.
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Old 04-28-2016, 09:27 PM
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I've been told that my surgery (first one) where they did a lot of ligament replacement and repairing of the bone structure was about 3 times more painful and longer rehab than a full knee job. I've heard from several friends (I'm old as dirt as are most my friends so knee and hip jobs are common) that knee replacement is actually pretty quick on recovery time but that first week or so is a real doozy. I surely wouldn't want to go it alone for that first few days. At my height and weight that's a lotta ass falling a long way to be by myself We don't bounce like we used to Cayu. We sorta splatter nowadays
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Old 04-28-2016, 09:32 PM
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Thanks for the information. Having no one to check on me, I have to consider all that. Although I am sure my brother would come and visit me for a few days if I asked him. He lives a long ways away. But loves coming to northern Wisconsin. Being a crumudgeon (yes I have actually been called that .. I like living alone), I don't really socialize too much anymore.
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Old 04-30-2016, 12:51 PM
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So I expect to get a break from my nurse/cook/housekeeper duties this weekend. I hope the dang weather cooperates and gives me a rain free Saturday.
Well it didn't happen. Drove 75 miles to the lease this morning with three guns in the truck. Arrived about the same time as the gray skies and rolling clouds. Got my four-wheeler out of the shed to put salt blocks out and check cameras on my three little food plots. As I finished that it started to drizzle. I though I would wait it out. But checked the radar and saw nothing but a big red blob heading my way. By the time I got the bike put up and my stuff back in the truck it was all thunder and lightning. Drove the 75 miles back home in a pouring rain.
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Old 04-30-2016, 02:54 PM
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Originally Posted by Semisane
Well it didn't happen. Drove 75 miles to the lease this morning with three guns in the truck. Arrived about the same time as the gray skies and rolling clouds. Got my four-wheeler out of the shed to put salt blocks out and check cameras on my three little food plots. As I finished that it started to drizzle. I though I would wait it out. But checked the radar and saw nothing but a big red blob heading my way. By the time I got the bike put up and my stuff back in the truck it was all thunder and lightning. Drove the 75 miles back home in a pouring rain.
that would really be a disappointment. And I thought I has it bad when sitting out on my shooting bench and it starts to rain and I have to walk back in the house. I went for a ride today on the new 4 wheeler. It was in the 40's so it was not cold at least. But I drove over to the boat landing near the house. I only wanted a short ride. WOW!! there were three trucks and trailers there.
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