Win 231 Son

The Unabomber asks:

"I bought a box of 500 cast lead 200 gr swc bullets, and I was wondering if you had experience with cast bullets. I loaded some last night with 4 grns of Red Dot powder, as it was the only powder I had that I could find cast bullet data for. They were very mild in report and recoil, which I liked."

I like Winchester 231 so much that I've gone to buying only 8lb kegs. I realize that there are other new powders out there that claim better fps. BUT and this is important, 231 burns clean without a lot of smoke. That is my number 1 reason for shooting it. Number 2 reason is that lead fouls and I prefer a powder that doesn't melt half the bullet onto my barrel. Now the Red, Green, and Blue dot powders do burn a tad colder but they are dirty and smoke a bunch. When I'm shooting a lot of 45 acp I like to be able to see the targets without waiting between reloads.

When I load 45 acp with 230 grain lead cast, I've experimented from 4.7 grains up to 6.2 grains in 4 and 5 inch barrels. If you go under 4.7 grains of 231, you can get incomplete cycling of your action AND although its never happened to me, you can get a cast bullet stuck in the pipe. I think the reason for the obstructed barrel has more to do with the stickiness of lead than actual bullet velocity.

I normally use 5.0 grains of 231. I'm getting about 789 fps with 230 grain bullets, 4in barrel. This brings us to reason I like 231 number 3, this a cheap load to shoot. 5 grains is nothing in terms of cost, and brass lasts 6 or more reloads. I've played around and got over 12 reloads with this recipe. I'm guessing that your semi-wad cutters will like this just fine. So start at 5 grains and see how your gun likes it, you can always adjust up or down. Leading isn't too bad. The reason I went with 5 grains instead of 4.9 or 5.1 etc was the standard deviation was tighter at 5. Let me know how it works.

UPDATE:
Winchester's 2003 reload manual lists 5.1 grains of 231 as max load for 230 grain cast bullets, and 4.5 as the min for 230 lrn. 200gn lswc is listed as 4.8 to 5.5 grn of WIN 231, getting 800fps to 910fps.

Snow Pack @ 151% of Average

Just the other night our very own Doom got drunk enough to work up the courage to bring up rafting. Apparently it takes 12 beers to get his manly mojo worked into some real adventure. By coincidence the very same day he mentioned it AVA sent me the most recent edition of the "Whitewater Insider". They report that:

The Arkansas River Basin snowpack is currently sitting at 151% of average. The entire state of Colorado (8 river basins) boasts snowpacks of well over 100%. The graph above represents all of the various predictions for the snowpack and run off for the entire season given our current high numbers. As you can see, we have some "off the chart" flows possible for the summer of 2008. The peak flow traditionally happens in late May or early June. If you and your crew are the type that want the biggest flows and biggest hits possible, now is the perfect time to be planning a rafting trip.

For those of you wondering where the graph above mentioned in the article is, its not missing, I left it off. All you newbies need to know is snow pack of 100% makes for excellent rafting. 151% means that the rafting will be fan-freaking-tastic and will make for a slightly longer spring season than we've had for several years.

My guess is that June is going to rock on the river! I have to work the weekend of June 7th. The weekend of the 14th is reserved for shooting a 3 day handgun 1000 yard competition. That leaves me the weekend of the 21st and the 28th. Waterboy, hows the last two weekends of June look for you?

As always, we'll try to make the rafting "fit" the coward factor skill level of those going. We'll plan the usual dinner extraordinary and R&R period to relive the adventure and afterglow. Depending on who wants to go, my vote is for either The Gauntlet/Numbers or perhaps we could try Clear Creek Advanced. Here's a link to some rafting video footage from the folks at AVA to get you worked up. Let me know what your thoughts are in the comments.

UPDATE: I just realize this will be the 4th year for the Vox Day Whitewater Rendezvous. Maybe we can do something extra to mark the occasion.

Something to Think About

Its election year. You're being a promised a chicken for every pot, or universal "free" health care. Here is an interview from a left leaning news show. You might have seen it on TV. If not its worth a look. The clip is a little over 6min and very informative.

Asked and Answered

Go read this:

Why Does the Establishment Hate Ron Paul?

Chuck Baldwin does an excellent job. Comment here if you like.

Barry McGuire and John McCain

It's just past 11:00 here in Wyoming. Tomorrow is the "big day" aka Sucker Super Tuesday. The Democrats can't figure out how to out pathetic themselves. The big question they're facing is do we run the atheistic-pinko-communist-reptile-women or the pinko-communist-black-guy. The Republican party leadership, on the other hand has picked its candidate and nothing, not even the opinions of the conservative base, is suppose to thwart him. I don't want to duplicate Farmer Tom's excellent post on McCain. You should read that for yourself. I do have some thoughts to add to it.

Despite John "no friend of the constitution" McCain's, solid anti American voting record throughout his tenure in the Senate, he is being sold to us as the Only Candidate Capable of Slaying the Lizard Queen (OCCSLQ). We are told (mostly by OCCSLQ supporters) that the reason for this is the War on Terror, no wait its War on Islamo something another this week. Don't get caught up in the details of what war it is exactly its a WAR and its on something very important, even though the Neo Coms can't figure out what. John McCain (according to OCCSLQ supporters) is a WAR hero, perhaps even the greatest living WAR HERO of all time.

How did the OCCSLQ get to be the Worlds Greatest Warrior?

Well...that is...um...he ah...

GOT SHOT DOWN and CAPTURED BY THE ENEMY!

Then...hold on to your hats for the next part...its truly heroic:

HE SPENT THE REST OF THE WAR IN JAIL.

Thats it folks he went to a piss poor hell hole that the VC called a POW camp. That fact alone is noble, he wasted away in miserable conditions in the service of his country. I can and do respect that. If that was all The OCCSLQ ever did, then sure he deserves a do nothing government job and a pension and free health care at the VA. Does punching out and going to jail qualify him to be president?

I can see a debate between Obama and OCCSLQ now:

McCain: I went to jail so I relate to blacks.
Obama: I coulda gone to jail for what I did in da hood. Buts I didn't get caught, America wants a man thats smart enough not to get caught
McCain: Crap I didn't think of that, now I've gotta support Clinton.

By the end of the day Tuesday if OCCSLQ has enough delegates to win the Republican nomination, the Lizard Queen will seize the cherry blossom throne at Sodom on Potomac. Even if that doesn't happen and McCain wins the general election; America loses. A OCCSLQ presidency would be exactly the same as a Hillary presidency. They share the same word view. The only difference is one is a supply side socialist and one is a demand side socialist.

So what does this have to do with Barry McGuire? In the 60's he had a song that rubbed many the wrong way. Today the lyrics are even more appropriate and prophetic of the finalization of the Republican betrayal of America.

And you tell me
Over and over and over again, my friend
Ah, you don’t believe
We’re on the eve
of destruction.