Niche Cartridges

I've always had a fondness for niche cartridges. My very first centerfire rifle was a Marlin 336 in .35 Remington.  I preferred the 200 grain Remington load, and I carried that rifle for two decades.  It was my go-to choice for whitetail deer in central Louisiana. That rifle wore a 2.5 scope and was hot medicine for deer in our piney woods and hardwood bottoms. I never had to shoot a deer twice with it.

Ron Spomer talks about another niche cartridge, the 338 Federal.  It's nothing more than a .308 Win necked up to 0.338.  It throws big bullets.  Not far, but hard. It's not in the same category as the .338 Win Mag, nor the .338 Lapua, but it is not meant to be.  It's a cartridge for inside 200 yards.  Truth be told, that is where most North American game are taken.

Before Junior Doughty died, he and I talked about the 338 Federal.  At that time it was a new cartridge.  We thought that a good 200+ grain cast bullet would be the bees knees in this thing.  With hard linotype metal and a gas check, you could push it to 1900fps and get plenty of thump on the other end. In a short action, light bolt gun with a low powered scope, it would take anything we might point it at.

I'm glad to see that Ron highlighted this cartridge.  It is not for everyone, but niche cartridges never are.

Gumbo

 We successfully dodged the bullet of the ice storm.  Awoke this morning to clear skies and cold temps.  Belle said that she wanted some kind of soup or stew for lunch, and I started diffing in the freezer.  I found two partial packs of good Gulf shrimp that we could cook, so I chopped some onions and bell peppers and decided to make a shrimp gumbo.

Seafood gumbo is not my forte.  I am much more comfortable with a chicken/sausage gumbo, but I gave it a shot anyway. Toward the latter part of the process, I knew it needed something, but my palate would not give me the clue.  I had Belle taste it and we decided that a bit of red pepper flakes would help it.

Wehn the rice is done, we will get a bowl.

Monday Morning

We seem to have dodged the arctic bullet that is the Great Ice Storm of 2026. We lost power for all of abot four minutes The pipes are okay, and the roads are relatively clear.

Not so for our neighbors to the north. I understand that Oxford, MS took a major hit, with substantial damage to the electrical grid. Those folks are in a bind.

Drinking coffee with Belle this morning, we were talking about being cold, and the lessons we have learned over the years.  Both Belle and I grew up in the '60s and '70s.  I remarked that back in those days, girls would sometimes wear clothes that exposed a bare midriff. I seem to recall a universal trait, that when I would touch an ice cube to an exposed belly button, the lady would object.  Sometimes violently.

Moving to another survivor of the '60s, we come to the Air Force fleet of aging bombers, the old B-52.  During the '80s I was assigned to a unit in the Army Reserve.  Our headquarters building was just off the north end of the runway at Barksdale AFB in Bossier City, LA.  Barksdale is a major hub for the B-52.  They were aging machines in those days, but it seems that the service life of those airframes may be 100 years.  The earliest of them were delivered in the 1950s and may still be flying in the 2050.  Incredible.

Ice

 We're getting a little ice, but the ground is not frozen, so it is not sticking.  The power is on, so we are warm and have light.  I've talked to all my kids and they are okay.  We are weathering the storm.

The weather radar has lots of pretty colors.

We're hanging in there.  This too will pass later today.

So It Begins

 We shot our January monthly match at the clubhouse today. Yes, there is a winter storm coming, but it ain't hare yet.  We decided to have some fun.

We had eleven (11) shooters this morning, not a bad turnout when you figure the weather.

The worst of it is supposed to roll in here later today, mainly in the form of ice and sleet, not so much snow. Many of the churches are closed tomorrow, and the news is saying that the state will close the Interstate (I-49) later today, mainly because so much of it is elevated across Alexandria.

Belle and I are hunkered down, with everything we need to ride this thing out.

Prepping Friday

The big news this weekend is the winter storm that is going to hit us over the weekend.  Yesterday there were lines at gas pumps and propane filling stations.   From all accounts, we are going to be on the southern edge of the storm, so how bad it may get is a matter of which weather app you are using.

The temps are all predicted to get into the mid-to-lower teens, so the temps will be there.  The question is how much precipitation we are going to get, and in what form. Snow, sleet, freezing rain are all in the mix.

I think we are ready, though one never really knows.  The gas cans are full, the generator is ready, the propane tanks are filled. Now it's just a matter of how closely the reality matches the forecast.

We will see.

Just Wednesday

 The big news is the Ice-mageddon we are going to get this weekend.  Lots of folk in panic mode.

For myself, younger son came by this morning and we went to Academy to look at scopes.  Picked out a nice Vortex Crossfire for the Winchester.  Mounted it, life is good.  We didn't go shoot simply because it rained all day, and I'm not ford of being in the rain.  When I was in the Army, the mantra was "If it ain't raining, we ain't training", but I'll wait for less precipitation.

The weather-weenies are prepping us for a huge ice storm this weekend.  I'm ready, but I am not yet convinced.  What concerns me is the insanely low temperatures they are talking about.  Louisiana does not need temps in the teens.  It ain't right.

Tomorrow, it is supposed to rain some more.  The menu in the shop tomorrow will be chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes and cream gravy.  I may heat some english peas to go with that.  We'll see.