Good news: The house repairs are almost finished. On a smaller scale, I finally found a source of affordable cartridge brass for my 1889 Martini-Henry rifle. (For those interested in such things, Gad Custom Cartridges, $30 for 20 unprimed cases, $45 for 20 rounds of loaded ammunition.) I also got a pointer from lwj2 for 5-round magazines for my M14. Either of those would give me a shot (literally) at putting a deer or two in the freezer to help with the food bills. (Though my gradually deteriorating vision would be a handicap. I can't see iron rifle sights clearly any more, and I don't have a working 'scope mount for the M14.)
Bad news: I can’t afford to actually buy any, because New Hampshire unemployment is now eight weeks behind on cymrullewes' unemployment benefits. That's about $3600 owing to us, without which we don't have enough in the bank to cover the mortgage, the car payment, and the electric bill¹ this month — let alone fill the kerosene tank² or buy propane for winter heat.³ We can't get any clear answers out of them as to what's going on; just "We'll get back to you".
Supposedly, they're switching over to a different system that uses direct deposit instead of mailing checks. But come ON, people! When you're changing a system that's vital to many people to keep a roof over their heads, you test it BEFORE you switch over to it!
[1] On which, I discovered when I went to pay it this morning, we're a month behind. The combination of "where the hell are the unemployment benefits" and the chaos of emergency house repairs has really disrupted our routines.
[2] Granted, the kerosene tank only supplies our demand water heater and the emergency-backup monitor heater in the dining room. The quarter-tank that's in it now will take us most of the way through the winter — basically we use about three quarters of a tank of kerosene per year — and we only used 50 gallons of propane (for cooking) since about April when we turned the heat off for the summer. But with the totally inadequate insulation in our roof, we go through a LOT of propane for winter heat. (It's insulated to maybe R-10, whereas the roof insulation recommendations for this climate zone now call for R-60.) We didn't know the roof was this poorly insulated when we bought the house, and fixing it requires rebuilding the roof.
[3] We applied for energy assistance, because we didn't know how we were going to cover winter heat bills on just cymrullewes' unemployment and my disability, but we were notified yesterday that we got denied because we're apparently over the income limit by a couple of hundred dollars a month. We don't know yet whether this means we're also not getting the winterization they promised us in return for letting them use our house as a test house for energy-auditing students.
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(Not sure I'd choose that for hunting. The ones I've fired had gawd-awful triggers. And then there's the rainbow trajectory . . .)
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I wouldn't make the Martini my first choice for deer, anyway. Boar, maybe. That said, relatively-light-bullet smokeless loads (405gr cast lead over 40gr of IMR4320 and a cotton-ball filler) help with the trajectory problem, enough that I actually need to re-regulate the sights because it shoots high. The M14 with a five-round mag would be much better for deer, and I have suitable ammunition already loaded for it, but until I can afford LASIK, I'd need a working 'scope mount to be able to hit anything with it; and while I did find a source for an M14 'scope mount that actually works (assuming I can ever find my link again), it's something like $300, and the scope I have isn't really the best suited for a deer scope, though it would work. (It's an 8-32x56 with target turrets.)
(This Martini does actually have a pretty decent trigger, though.)
The biggest hunting obstacle is probably one of mobility. I don't know how much of a hike into the woods after deer my left foot will tolerate, let alone back out with a deer carcase. The past few days, it's been so painful at times I've been having trouble just moving around the house and haven't been able to keep a shoe on.
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Given my reading of Kipling stories, I'm willing to accept that some prize specimens could drop an Afghan at 1000 yards.
I've fired a trap-door Springfield with smokeless loads like you describe, with good results.
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Crazy pdb's discount scope mounts not only takes payments but can also offer you a screaming deal on a Springfield Armory 4.5-16x scope with 7.62 bullet drop reticule!
Email me at pdb@papadeltabravo.com if you're interested.
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How does the clip-guide-slot adapter on the Leatherwood mount to the receiver? The Sadlak clamps the clip-guide replacement in place with set-screws, but the Springfield Armory mount I tried first had to have it's clip-guide block roll-pinned in place.
It's all probably a bit moot at the moment, though. Unless either I or
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I think it's a pretty well thought out system, but I decided to keep my M1A as an irons only match rifle for now.
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I'm distinctly interested, assuming we can somehow get the logjam in NHUSD cleared.
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#
alternative to lasik . . .
http://www.amazon.com/Yoga-Your-Eyes-Meir-Schneider/dp/B0000AGQ6C/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1254589289&sr=1-2