Ain't Dogging

 In yesterday's post, I talked about the Hornady LeverEvolution bullet, and I'm not dogging on that ammunition.  It is my opinion that these new bullets did several things very well.  They split the difference between the tadeonal 150 and 170 grain load with a 160-grain bullet.  They upgraded a 19th century cartridge and brought it into the 21st century.  The big thing these newfangled bullets did was to get grandpa's old rifle out of the safe and back into the range, where it could bark the other dogs.

I bought my first lever gun in 1973, where at the tender age of 19 I walked into Howard Brothers department store and put down $87.50 on a brand-new Marlin 336.  It was on sale the week before deer season, down from $94.99 and I thought it was a pretty good deal.  I still have that rifle, though it lives at my son's house.

Junior Doughty and I played with Handi-rifles for a time in 2008-10.  As such, I loaded a bunch of ammo for the .30-30 with pointy bullets, specifically the Sierra Game King.  These bullets would be dangerous in a tube fed levergun, because pointed tips and recoil are a thing.  Junior and I put them through their paces and they performed well in the Handi-rifle, which we all know is a single shot.

The Hornady ammo is a good thing, if only for the reasons stated above.  For my shooting, and I suspect for many of us, the old ammo still suits us fine. My preferred factory load in the .30-30 is the old Remington green box load with the 170 grain round nose soft point. For deer, hogs, black bear, it is entirely sufficient as long as the range is under 125 yards and you can put the bullet in the vitals.

The cartridge is a handloaders dream.  It has a long sleek neck that is perfect for cast bullets and a moderate charge of the old IMR 3031. It can be loaded with a hand press on the kitchen table.  Crimp the bullet so that it doesn't set back in the tube magazine under recoil and you will be fine.

First Gumbo

 I wanted a seafood gumbo for lunch, so decided to make a small one.   I started with a small dutch oven and added four cups of vegetable broth, then got out a skillet and sauteed some onions and bell peppers. Added that to the broth then made a roux.  Added that to the pot, then dropped in a pound of 90/130 Gulf shrimp and a pound of Louisiana crawfish tails.  I let it all simmer while I adjusted the seasoning and made a pot of rice.

Belle said that it was pretty tasty.  I normally do a chicken and sausage gumbo and this is the first seafood gumbo I have made in a while.  Now, I have to wash the pots.

30-30 Theory

 Many of you know, I really like the .30-30 Winchester.  It is an iconic cartridge, the very first factory cartridge to be laded with smokeless powder back in 1895. The .30-30 shines with the factory 170 grain round nose bullet.  The factory loads are all about the same.  A good 170 coming out of the muzzle at about 2200 fps. Very standard, very boring.

Lever guns and the .30-30 seem to have fallen out of favor at the deer camps around the country.  It's not a new cartridge, it's not a precision rifle, but it was never meant to be. It was designed as a hunting cartridge, smiting light and handy with enough power to put down medium game at 100 yards. Winchester has built over 7 million Model 94 rifles, many of them in .30-30d. Marlin added several million more in their 336 rifle. There are millions of these guns in safes, closets and racks all over the United States.

They are not precision rifles.  But each of them are capable of 3-minute accuracy which is sufficient to put meat on the table.  Recently, I upgraded my old Winchester to include a red dot sight..  That sight has a 3MOA dot and the rifle is a 3-minute rifle, so the question becomes the proper sight in distance?

That's where the internet helps.  I found an online ballistics calculator and started feeding in data. What I found was pretty interesting.

If I do a good zero at 25 yards, that big 170 will stay i that 3MOA dot all the way out to 150 yards and fall out of the dot at 175 yards. That is well within the yardage that the vast majority of deer are killed around here.  This is just math, and field data will tell the tale, but I believe I'll sight in at 25 yards and see what happens.

Somebody will want to talk about Hornady's LeverEvolution bullet.  It's great technology, but to my way of thinning, it tries to answer a question that no one ever asked.  If you want to shoot pointy bullets (and I love them) go get a .30-06.  I have one of each.

Now, if you will excuse me, I have the season's first gumbo on the stove and need to stir it.

Moderation

 It appears in this last week of September, that the weather is about to moderate from our usual heat and humidity.  We are expecting a cooler front on Wednesday/Thursday that will bring a bit of rain and cooler temps, with highs in the 80s, Squirrel season opens this weekend in our area, and the rain should help with the hunting.  The woods are dry right now and the leaves underfoot are like walking through corn flakes.

As I type this, I have two A/C units running.  They are currently both cycled off.  That is good news for my power bill.  Belle made a runup to the Dollar Store and came back with a sack of potatoes. She's hungry for Potato Stuff.

It's a recipe that I found on Bruce Mitchell's site.  Bruce and I cook similarly, with more emphasis on flavor and using what is at hand rather than strict adherence to a recipe.  This reminds me of an old recipe that a college girlfriend cooked occasionally.  The recipe didn't have a name, so we started calling it Brenda potatoes.  Basically, potatoes and onions with a little bacon for flavor. She layered hers in a heavily buttered Dutch oven and ran it in the oven for an hour or so, until the potatoes were fork tender.

I don't mind posting recipes, but it is so much easier to put up a link, so here is the link to Potato Stuff.

Getting Fall

 Belle was mentioning today that she was ready for the weather to cool off so we could make gumbos and stews and corn maque chou. (mock chew)

Corn maque chou is a regional thing, with lots of different recipes. The only real constants are corn and cream.  Everything else is the chef's choice.  I like onion and bell pepper, while Belle might add some petit diced tomatoes.

Below is Bruce Mitchell's recipe.  You can tell that the weather is cool, because Bruce is wearing a shirt.

Bon apetit, y'all.

Jewelry

 I lost my wedding band last week.  I've been losing weight and noticed that the band was getting a bit loose, but didn't think much about it.  Until it was gone.  Doing yard work, I noticed that I was not wearing a wedding band.  Well, hell.

It was a plain gold band, 10-carat, size 9.  I think, when I got married, I paid about $50 for it.  

This morning, I went to my jeweler and ordered a new wedding band.  Yellow cold, 10-carat.  The guy didn't blush went he told me the price, but he did apologize. $500.  Yeah, really.  I'll pick it up on Tuesday. The gold spot price today s $4284.25.

I'm one of those guys who feels naked without a wedding band.

Dry Week

 I just finished a dry week, which is something I do occasionally.  For one entire calendar week, no  alcohol of any kind.  No beer, no wine, no whiskey.  It helps reset the palate, gives the liver a break, and makes sure that there are no psychological problems.  It's a good idea.

Surprisingly, I don't miss it at all when I take a dry week, which is exactly the point.

We did get a passing thunderstorm late this afternoon.  We need the rain.

Diesel Strike?

 Over Sunday lunch, I heard a rumor that truck drivers and others are planning a diesel strike  for October 1st.  What??  That don't make sense.

Yeah, I know.  Fuel prices are high. But the idea that truckers are going to turn off the engine to protest high prices sounds a bit odd.  Doing a little Google-fu tells me that the idea seems to have gotten the best legs on the Book of Face. That particular social media page has a world-wide reputation for accurate information (/sarc).  So there you have that.

More pressing concerns is what's for lunch?  I have a good tomato, a loaf of fresh bread and a pound of bacon.  I believe it's time for a good ol' bacon and 'mater sammich..  I'm going to preheat the oven and slide that bacon in there for 30 minutes or so.