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Last Updated: Aug 28, 2009 - 10:45:21 AM |
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Tonite (October 30, 2006) is our first
official "Brass
Monkey
" night in Corvallis; it's gonna be cold here tonite
... 22 degrees ... and my landlord was scurrying around unhooking all
the garden hoses so they wouldn't burst when they froze.
He's a good Joe, and I appreciate him. Not only does he take care of my
hose in the winter, and mow the lawn in the summer, but he hasn't
raised my rent in the ten years I've lived in the west side of his
Townhouse Duplex.
I wish things were as mellow on the ammunition-components side of my life.
Winchester Small Rifle primers haven't jumped more than can be
accounted for by inflation, but Vihta-Vourhi N350 powder has increased
about 20% over the past year, and you can't GET it in the four-pound
'kegs'. Montana
Gold 115 grain FMJ .355 jacketted bullets have gone from
about $185 a case (4000) to approximately $219 in the past month.
And
Winchester .38 super unprimed brass jumped from $92/1000 to
$141/1000! Big Dawg, our local components supplier (he
doesn't actually stand on urban street corners selling VV powder
through car windows; ignore the rumors) has tried to let his customers
know when prices are going to jump, but the Montana Gold price increase
caught him flat footed, too.
Fortunately, I've got a new sleeve of primers, four pounds of powder,
and about 2/3 case of bullets on hand at the loading bench. Oh, and a
thousand cases which I bought at the new price last month.
(The Croc Match in September killed me ... I hate lost-brass matches,
and after shooting the Area 1 match in August, SWMBO and I had about
1,000 cases of 'range' brass left, which we lost at Dundee. We're using
a lot of new brass for club matches now, which ups the per-round price
of ammunition from fifteen cents per round to thirty cents per round if
we can't recover the brass!)
---
Enough ranting about the increasing cost of reloading.
Every winter, we change our maintenance regimen.
The most important thing about cold-weather shooting, besides the fact
that it's cold and wet, is that the temperature of the air affects the
temperature of the gun.
You may recall that last month (September) I wrote about the Croc Match
and how the heat generated by shooting 50+ rounds per stage in
100-degree weather was retained by the gun. Late in the day, the metal
in the gun was so hot that it was physically painful to hold it. When
the buzzer sounded, we forgot about how hot the gun was because the
shooting was so hot, too!
But the "Load and Make Ready" command was cause for cringing. When we
took the gun out of the gun rug, it burned the web of your thumb.
Hot weather calls for some heavy-duty lubrication, and I use 30-weight synthetic motor oil in the heat of the summer.
That's right. We use AmsOil
motor oil in our race guns during the summer. It doesn't
break down with the heat, and the more you shoot it, the better it
likes it. First stage of the morning, the gun runs as good as it does
the last stage. And five bucks will buy you a quart, which so far has
lasted us for three years. Slather it on, wipe off the drips, put the
gun back together and wrap the gun in a shop rag until you're ready to
use it.
Works like a charm.
But in the winter, the heavy viscosity of the motor oil isn't quite as much a help.
We go for a lighter oil, then.
I've used 3-in-1 oil for years, but for the very coldest weather I lube the gun with sewing machine oil.
Sure, you can buy light machine oil from lots of places, and you get
what you pay for. Sewing machine oil usually comes with a convenient
applicator that you can keep in a plastic bag in your range bag without
leaking. (I quit using 3-in-1 oil for the simple reason that the little
red cap on the end of the spout is too easy to lose, and then you have
a can of oil in a bag of oil.)
You can put this in your list of Geek Tips, along with:
- Using Boraxo Powdered Hand Soap to
clean up after reloading or cleaning guns
- Using Simple Green to clean your gun
- Cleaning your pistol in your dish washer
They probably all sound funny to you, but I've used 'em all
and they all work for me.
I'm not cheap; I'm efficient.
© Copyright 2006 by DOWN RANGE TV
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