Darrell

6" in Hebbertsburg this morning, and very cold. The snow is frozen. I won't be going anywhere for the next couple of days. My dog wants nothing to do with it. And neither do I, for that matter.

My dog normally stays outdoors, but I put a crate in the heated garage for her the last couple of nights. I let her out this morning, she went to the door, took a look, and went back to her crate. I KNOW she's gonna have to go pretty soon, but I'll wait until daylight to give her another chance.

Hi Chris, I could probably use some more .44Mag brass. I have quite a bit of .308 and .223. How much are you looking to trade? I live pretty far from Clarksville, so if we were to work a trade we'd have to do it by mail. Regards- Darrell

I used to really enjoy taking my dirt bike out onto the logging roads in the snow. It's great practice for sliding either tire. But alas, I am now old enough that a broken bone would take a long time to heal. I still like to ride my trials bike in the snow, though, but it's MUCH too cold for that today.

NOT looking forward to Wed morning, when the forecast is for below zero. Sheesh, when I moved to TN people told me it would be hot and humid, not that I'd freeze to death!

^^^ Just about anything with Denzel is worth the time spent watching.

It might be worth rescheduling. I'm supposed to go to Murfreesboro (a 2.5 hour drive) on Friday morning for injections in my knees, but if the roads aren't safe, I'll call and reschedule.

I don't think I'd ever done so before, but I went to see Top Gun Maverick in the theater twice. I love that kind of movie, so well, in fact, that I bought the DVD and have seen it at least twice more at home. I read that they're working on another Top Gun move, if Cruise ever finishes with his other projects.

Monday's one of my racquetball mornings, but I'm not going to risk damaging my truck for r-ball this morning. Not a lot of snow here in Crab Orchard, but it's very cold and the snow compacted by cars passing over it will freeze solid. I'll stay home and read. But PLEASE Volunteer Electric, keep the power on!

I'm not so sure about THAT. At Washington, DeBoer employed a pass-first, big play offense. In fact, Washington's pass offense this past season was #1 in the nation. I know that rubs against the SEC norm, but Alabama is going to throw.

I have a friend who was in the Air Force and who owns a pistol, but who really isn't a "gun guy". He does understand gun safety, etc. The last time he came to visit I broke out my Marlin 45-70 and let him put a couple rounds down range. He was smart enough to watch me shoot it first, but the recoil was still a surprise to him. Mind, I would never think of giving a new shooter something with so much recoil, but I was happy to give Briant the experience.

Please post it in the "Gear For Sale" forum along with a price. Thanks!

When I took my granddaughter out to shoot for the first time we took a single-action .22 revolver. One must be deliberate with the actions needed to fire it, and it's unintimidating. Naturally we did a safety brief first, and discussed sight-picture, and I stood behind her and talked her through each step. My father taught me with a single shot, break-action .22 rifle.

It appears that DeBoer wasn't Alabama's first choice. The press says that Sarkasian, Lanning, and maybe Kiffen all turned down the job. I liked DeBoer, the Huskies had two fantastic seasons with him, but I don't think he was going to come close to repeating that next season, given roster turnover. I'm more than curious to see how he does with Alabama. And while I wish DeBoer well, wouldn't it be nice if grown men would honor the contracts they sign? He signed an extension last year for more money, and now he isn't honoring the contract. If he'd had a crappy season he would still have expected to be paid, and the UW would have honored the terms of the contract. Of course Bama has to pay up, but still.....

Lanning says he's staying with the filthy ducks, but Huskie fans are sweating bullets as Kalen DeBoer's name seems to be frequently mentioned.

WHOA!!!!!! I missed this step on my first reading. Personally, I would never, ever tumble a completed round. There are differences of opinion on the subject, but it seems unnecessary and potentially dangerous to me. Some say that tumbling can cause the powder's burn characteristics to change, resulting in a potential over-pressure when fired. I think it's possible that the bullet could move in the neck, which will also cause pressure variations. I see no reason to risk it.

You've thought it through very well, but let me offer a couple of thoughts: I resize my brass before cleaning it. That way the cleaning process removes all the case lube. I'm not saying my way is best, but I prefer it. I do check each piece of brass with my fingers to be sure there is no grit or dirt on the outside of the case. Consider loading just a few to begin with. If you load 40 or so, 10 each with a particular powder charge, you can get a better idea which powder charge yields the best results in your rifle. Tumbling in dry media, corn cob, walnut shell, whatever, does not effect the size of the brass. Neither does wet-tumbling. My experience is that stainless pins offer almost no improvement when cleaning brass. I tried it a few times and never use it now. Perhaps if you have a bunch of nasty brass that you picked up somewhere, but for just normal once-fired brass... no need. And honestly, cleaning once-fired brass really isn't necessary at all, so long as you make sure there's no grit on the cases. I always clean mine because I like my brass shiny and my hands to stay clean, but you don't have to do that. Good luck!

Tap and die drawer

I agree, cool tool! I found a set in a case, instead of on a cable, of SAE and Metric for $40 shipped on eBay. (From China, but what the heck.) I ordered a set for my toolbox, thanks for the tip!

I should have seen this coming as there was an editorial (it may have been an article or a guest essay) in the NYT several weeks ago that mentioned the frequency that ammo from Lake City has shown up at certain shootings. At the time I just scoffed at the idea that ammo from this manufacturer or that might be targeted, but I missed the implication that LC shouldn't be selling to civilians. Of course there's a really good reason why LC needs to keep it's capacity high, and when the military isn't shooting up the ammo, then it makes perfect sense to divert some to the civilian market. There will be no end to the sideroads that the anti-gun crowd will take to try to undermine our rights.

Did your dad mention where he found that? I'm one who picks up every "good" nut or bolt I see on the ground, and I could see where a set of those would be handy.

I bought a $300 Yeswelder on Amazon. It's MIG or Flux-core, 220V only. No, it sure isn't a Lincoln, but for a guy like me who occasionally welds a project it seemed like the ticket. But be aware that you're going to pay $300 for a bottle of gas, too. And if you want to weld aluminum then you'll need another bottle of gas. And you'll need a cart, too. But that's true of any welder you buy. Edit: I almost forgot that I had to run a new 50A service as well. $7.80 a foot for the wire. So even the cheap welders aren't cheap.

Isn't that the truth! I worked for the Navy in Bremerton, WA, and had the opportunity to see a lot of exceptional welders working on nuclear power plants. Those welds were incredible.... and thoroughly tested!

I have that to look forward to, but everything I've read and heard says that it's among the most painful procedures. My doc tells me that I'll know when it's time, and so far the bad knees haven't prevented me doing what I want to do. Good luck, and keep your chin up!