He's working with all new equipment on an improvised stand. I bet the next time he shows us a target it looks better. I don't know what to recco for 5.56 ammo...so many varieties. Always felt best to sight with standard 855's or 193's due to them being ubiquitous and on the low side of pricing. If the rifle is 1:7 twist, I'd look at 62gr or heavier.
Haven't had a bear incident in over a year, and being in a heavy mast year, have hardly seen any bear or deer sign at all this year. Saw one bear at the end of my driveway about a month ago but that's been it until last night. Had been asleep for about an hour when something woke me up. Thought at first it might have been a flying squirrel doing a hard landing on the roof and then sliding off the metal roof onto the deck (all too common). Next noise sounded a bit louder so considered possibly a trash panda on the deck. Definitely sounded different than the usual nighttime noises though so got up and turned on the front lights. Saw that a bear had pulled a 55-gallon drum off a utility trailer in my driveway, busted open the lid, and was dragging a 50-pound bag of sunflower seeds across the yard. Loaded a pellet pistol, grabbed a flashlight (and a backup pew-pew) and went out onto the deck. The smug bastard was just lying there in the yard munching on seeds and looking at me. Popped it with a shot from the pellet pistol and it took off into the tree line. Typical for bears, it hung around for about 20-30 minutes just inside the woods until it finally wandered out at the edge of the driveway. Bolted when I shone the flashlight at it. Cleaned the mess up and stayed up on guard duty for a couple hours but it never returned (that I know of). That barrel has been on the trailer for a couple months with no issues so perhaps the natural food is finally running low. Wonder if it's the same one that ripped the doors off my shed last year. That barrel had to weigh about 250 pounds, and he got it up over the railing of the trailer like it was nothing (without touching the log splitter on the trailer). Sometimes I forget how strong those things are. Just another day (night) living in the woods.
Not familiar with the term? The flying squirrel comment is funny. Never knew they were around my area until my cats caught a couple years back. Found the corpse on the back deck and the tail of another.
See the brenndatomu post above but basically it's a year of heavy natural food crop (that happens in cycles). Been a down year for both bear and deer hunters as there is so much natural food that the animals don't have to move much. Numbers for the bear baiting season were the lowest in a long time.
Thanks Dave. Very interesting read and I learned something new. Huge red oak on our side yard seems to have "average" acorn volume this year. Same with the red and chestnut oaks on the other side. FHC is always making me more smarter!
So there's not a mastive amount of them??? Its a groaner that belongs in the best dad jokes thread!!!
Interesting how it differs per region. I've barely seen an acorn in over five years and this year they're everywhere (same with pinecones).
A little bit of backup while working in the woodlot this morning in case junior decides to make a return.
We have a junior here too wife asked me to identify scat. Black bear; heavy year for apples & berries here so food still exists in valley
Jeff, I’ve shot all kinds of rifles and hunted quite a lot. When siting in it’s best to have a very comfortable shooting position and I would not use the rifle rest clamped to the rifle, my experience is to hold the rifle firmly but let it recoil straight back into your shoulder. The clamped rifle may be twisting or canting the rifle thereby giving you the erratic pattern that you are experiencing. Just my 2 cent observation. Try using some sand bags or other softer material to rest the rifle on.
We bought 2 boxes of cheap 55 gr FMJ to practice with and a 50 rd box of 55 gr poly tip hunting rds. I don't know how to tell the twist of the barrel
It's *probably 1:8 which is more accomodating to wider range of bullets. Specs should be available on maker's website. Faster twist rates will give more rpm to the bullets. Heavier bullets require more rpm to properly stabilize than do lighter bullets. Most makers use middle ground in order to best accomodate a variety. Barrel length also comes into play obviously with the length determining how many times the bullet goes round before exiting 1:7 1 revolution per 7 inches of barrel. Light bullets can be overspun in a fast twist barrel causing destabilization. Keyhole hits will show destabilization. Keyholes are where the bullet hits target at less than 90 degrees to straight and will leave an oblong hole. It's all a deep rabbit hole that I have gazed into before. Mostly your long range competitors pay attention to this stuff. I was made aware of it and now cannot un-know it, even if it's mostly irrelevant. My connection started with research into 7.62 rounds that Honady manufactures. They are 255 gr bullets. Average x39mm loadings are in the 120gr range so it's a huge difference. I was checking to make sure my rifles have enough twist to stabilize them. One does, one does not. 1:9.5x18" will just barely do it. 1:10 not recommended at 16". Luckily I found some 180gr stuff that is also subsonic to use in the 16" barreled rifle.
Good eye! Yes, it's a Diamond D Guide's Choice chest rig. Had it for ten years now and that thing is extremely well built and worth every penny.
Well okay then. If junior can get in the barrel tonight, he's more than welcome to whatever is in there.
