Chills1994

I couldn’t help myself. i must be a brass-whore-aholic or a hull-a-holic. I shoveled out 9 more boxes of shells this morning. Six boxes fit in the trunk:

And just to give ya’ll an idea of how many shells and/or clay birds they go through at the Grand (in addition to other registered shoots throughout the year) I took this pic:

I was trying to figure out when the Grand moved from Vandalia, OH to Sparta, IL. I want to say it was 2005 / 2006 . So I was on the Shotgun World Forum searching for Vandalia. I found one post that said the ATA would gather up the empty hulls in Vandalia, and they had shelving racks in some other building. They would take the boxes the clay bird targets came in and fill them up with empty hulls. Then the ATA would sell each box for $5 . I started asking about the empty hulls back in May or June….after the U.S. Open trapshooting match. I had my phone out with a picture I had taken back in like 2017 or 2018 ready to show the higher highers from Sparta. The folks at the Shooting Complex looked at my pic, “Oh, yeah, those seed bags! Yeah, that was the biggest mistake ever. This year they are going straight into a dumpster.” Then I asked, “So a guy could say sit behind some trap doubles event, and once that squad walks off the field you could scrounge up their hulls?” ”NOPE! Once they hit the ground they are the property of the ATA. Once they make it into a dumpster. They are fair game. Anybody can grab them then.”

If you give me a day or two, I have a prototype that I started on like 10 years ago that I can post a pic or two of. I never did get around to finishing it. I am not saying it is better or worse than any of the current designs. Just different. I don’t know what GT targets charges for shipping and handling, but 10 bucks each is super CHEAP! In my opinion.

That blue car is a rental. Good thing for four doors, eh? I went to Home Depot and got two large moving boxes, which fit in the trunk. Two medium moving boxes fit in the back seat. And two re-purposed boxes from ChewyDOTcom were in the front passenger seat. I found that a scoop shovel worked best:

That roll off dumpster was completely full to overflowing 2 days later:

And of course, all the once fired 12 gauge hulls you would ever want: po

Gamaliel did have both shotgun primers (Cheddites) and some Winchester metallic primers:

This is what Gamaliel was asking for Mec presses:

Mike Graf’s reloading supply: Yes, they actually had 4 pounders and 8 pounders of TiteGroup, which is what I use in the 9mm. I haven’t used it as a shotgun powder yet.

The Amateur Trapshooting Association just wrapped up another Grand American world trapshooting championship (at the World Shooting and Recreation Complex at Sparta, IL). I will try to post some pics here to give you an idea of costs / prices . Factory ammo prices from what they call the “shellhouse” (which I think is run by Gamaliel shooting supply): That ^^^ is basically all 12 gauge ammo. There is one 20 gauge event and one 28 gauge event , but I heard that ammo sold out quickly.

If this is just for practice sessions at the range, I bought the biggest tarp Home Depot sells. Then I went to Harbor Freight (this was pre-covid) and bought like 8 or 10 of the same flat bladed screw driver. The ground or bay “floor” is usually soft enough that I can push the screw driver through tge grommets to stake the tarp down. At end of practice session, fold tarp half ways north-south. Then unfold. The fold tarp half-ways east-west. Brass ends up in the middle. I use a broom and dust pan to sweep it up.

A’yup! Duane has an article in the latest Blue Press on “being willing”. It is centered around a movie scene starring John Wayne and a very young Ron Howard. It was John Wayne’s last movie: “The Shootist” . Considering recent major news events involving people with guns saving lives (or NOT saving lives), the timing of that article seemed poignant. Here is that movie scene:

I was a match director. Let me rephrase that, I was the volunteer, unpaid match director. This was at a state run range. The state wanted its cut per shooter. And of course USPSA HQ wants its cut in activies fees/classifier fees. So my hands were tied with respect to how low I could chop a match entry fee for the guys who were nice enough to show up early to help set up and the guys who stayed late to help tear down. Soooo…. Let me rephrase my previous post: for the entertainment value/duration, local USPSA match entry fees are a steal when compared to other forms of entertainment like going to the movies (or say some place like a Dave and Busters).

I agree, totally. I think most competitors use USPSA match time as entertainment and social time. And just for the record…I haven’t shot a match since April 2012. And yes, I will still snoop on local match results thanks to Practiscore. I will see some names that I remember and think “Holy _ _ _ _ ! That guy is still C / B class?LOL!” Compared to going to the movies, a local match entry fee is cheap.

I am no longer in the business of making targets, but if there is a handy, enterprising individual out there, feel free to borrow my design. Here is a video one of my customers did years ago: https://youtu.be/i0L2FL0XTCI Back then, my idea was to make everything foldable, so you can just keep your shooting stuff in your car’s trunk. Yes, that is black gas pipe, threaded on both ends . If you want to go to the range right after work, the stuff is already in your trunk (versus other swingers that are completely welded up that require a pick up truck bed to carry).

Don’t do that. ”Ya can’t just change horses midstream!" And so you shouldn’t be changing rules at the last minute either. I am old skool, so the model I was trained on was: expectations feedback consequences growth I would send out an email or group text about a week before the match saying that ALL competitors are expected to help tear down at the end of the match. So that sets the expectation. In that email or text, you can be as big a hard nose or as little if you want: “If you don’t want to help your fellow squad members tear down at the end of the match, you are not welcome here. Please find another match that you can shoot and scoot instead.” If you word it in such a way, you put the onus on the squads to police themselves. Peer pressure alone and a correctly timed smart allecky remark between squad members could do more good than giving $10 off the match entry fee.

Consider this an “ old school tag “ because I am thinking about getting a fo-tay.

I just heard something today at the LGS about Fiocchi building a primer facility in Missouri.

There is a huge thread over at the Shotgun World Forums on birdshot making: https://www.shotgunworld.com/threads/anyone-make-their-own-lead-shot.415048/ I got my idea for making my own birdshot maker from the Single Action Shooting Society (SASS…aka Cowboy Action Shooting) “Wire Forum” years ago. I shot three rounds of trap today. The first one was with my 686 in 12 gauge using factory Federal Top Gun loads. Then I went back to my car to get my 725 in 20 gauge. On the walk there, I could definitely feel it in my right shoulder. My hunting buddy from KC swears by 3/4 ounce loads in the 12 gauge. so that is the other advantage to reloading your own shotgun shells. You can dial down the payload’s weight. Less stress and wear and tear on you and your gun. I am thinking I have never seen factory 12 gauge shells with just 3/4 ounce of shot.

I forgot what size bolt I initially used …. That I inserted the Tweeco wired welding tips into. The OD of the tip is 0.250” . So the head of the bolt had to be thicker than a quarter inch. I am thinking now if I had to re-do it, I would try running the tips through a 1/4 X 20 die…to cut external threads. Then drilling a bunch of 1/4” holes in the “dam”. Insert threaded tip…use a (stainless???) hex nut on each side to secure the tips. One reason is that without a lathe, just a drill press, it is total PITA to drill a hole axially down the shaft of say a 1/2 inch bolt. Not that drilling the other hole radially into one of the hex head flats was a picnic either. The other reason is you could get way more dripper bolts / orifices horizontally across the “dam”. Which would mean more lead droplets …well…dropped per…say an hour. More throughput = more better’er. There are youtube videos of guys making their own dripper bolts using like some sub 1mm metric drill bit chucked in a Dremel, which is then clamped in a jig. I don’t know if they are drilling into aluminum bolts, regular carbon steel bolts, or stainless steel bolts. It looks like a tedious time consuming process that probably breaks a lot of drill bits. As far as the rusty ramp goes, there’s a velcro attachment for right angle grinders and maroon scotch bright pads. That almost polishes it. Then I switch over to a buffing wheel chucked in corded drill. It almost becomes a mirror. Then I spray it with graphite spray from a local NAPA auto parts store. And then I plug in the electric broiler element. Back on topic…. I ran my current component prices for 20 gauge through another online calculator just a couple of hours ago. That shows $7.17 per box. So that is still 4 to 5 bucks cheaper than factory 20ga AA shells from Walmart (if your Walmart still sells ammo) or Academy Sports. You could think of it like this: if your range charges $7 or $8 for each round of trap/skeet, the “savings” from the first two boxes of reloads or first two rounds, pays for the third round. EDIT: just like a lot of other “Should I start reloading?” threads when it comes to rifle or pistol reloading, ultimately the answer that everybody agrees on is “You won’t save money. But you sure will shoot more!”

One last post.. for now…I promise. my old “ladle” with the Jim Stuart’s “the better shotmaker” dripper bolts: It probably hasn’t been fired up in 10 to 15 years. Hence the rust spots on the ramp or lip. with all that said, I still bought a bag of Lawrence Magnum #8 shot last week. $55 for 25 pounds.

The stuff that was small enough to drop through this old colander was like a #9 shot size: