Range Report: this is the life!

[Sir Henry]

It’s 11F up from a low of 3F so I thought I would venture out and do some plinking. This time it’s the Charger Mares Leg and CCI 40 grain SV.

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It’s really nice to make a decision to “go shooting” and literally be squeezing the trigger a minute later. My only wish is that my targets (traps) were smaller. Hitting an 11”x11” target offhand at 50 yards isn’t all that challenging.

[daytime dave]

That sure is a great life.

[Hatchdog]

Looks cold, brrrrrr. If you’re hitting an 11” square target at 50 yards with that modified charger you’re doing great.

Sure are a lot of birds in your sky.

[Sir Henry]

That sure is a great life.

Happy days are over. I have to put my snowshoes on and walk up to the top trap. The last shot I made knocked it off the stand.

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The range and hoppy room are so close I had visions of shooting in my slippers all winter. I load a magazine or tube inside and shoot outside. Then come back inside to warm up and reload.

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I keep all my daily shooters in the Snap-On chest. My main gun room it upstairs where I keep the majority of my firearms. It’s rare to shoot something besides the dozen I keep in the chest.

[Sir Henry]

Looks cold, brrrrrr. If you’re hitting an 11” square target at 50 yards with that modified charger you’re doing great.

Sure are a lot of birds in your sky.

That’s snow.

[Sir Henry]

I reset the target on the table and checked the other two. I impact from .22 SV is pushing them back.

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This trap is set on a used mailbox hanger and is very secure.

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The view from the targets back to the house and shooting area.

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[North Country Gal]

Any reason you are not setting up those traps with a paper target? That's what they are designed to use. of course, I do understand if you're not too eager to wade out through that snow to put up pier targets at 50 yards. I really hate that chore, too. You could, though, rig up a metal swinger in front of those bullet traps or even hang a heavy steel plate from it.

Here's an example. I have a heavy steel hanger target, actually rated for centerfire pistol use hanging from the mesh wire. It's the yellow target with ears to the center/left in the pic. Be a cinch to hang it to that bullet trap at the lower right, but I use paper targets on that bullet trap. That would get you a more challenging target for rimfire work, but you'd still have the safety advantage of using the bullet trap. I think this is a 3" or maybe 4" plate, but I'm sure you could larger or smaller. Anyway, just a thought.

[fortyshooter]

Much fun on a snowy Sunday! 11 degrees.... Going out around here 42 with some wind stopped my decision to go down to my range today to spread some deer feed around plus have work to do around the home today.New refrigerator coming tomorrow and might have to grease it up to get thru the back door....going to be tight! Think I remember seeing a door jamb spreader down at Harbor Frieght!

[Sir Henry]

Any reason you are not setting up those traps with a paper target? That's what they are designed to use. of course, I do understand if you're not too eager to wade out through that snow to put up pier targets at 50 yards. I really hate that chore, too. You could, though, rig up a metal swinger in front of those bullet traps or even hang a heavy steel plate from it.

Here's an example. I have a heavy steel hanger target, actually rated for centerfire pistol use hanging from the mesh wire. It's the yellow target with ears to the center/left in the pic. Be a cinch to hang it to that bullet trap at the lower right, but I use paper targets on that bullet trap. That would get you a more challenging target for rimfire work, but you'd still have the safety advantage of using the bullet trap. I think this is a 3" or maybe 4" plate, but I'm sure you could larger or smaller. Anyway, just a thought.

I want to be able to use the traps for both paper and as gongs. Right now I can’t really do that because it’s winter. Next summer I will set it up so I can shoot smaller objects without walking out to the targets in the winter. I had the berm pushed up late in the year and it went from mud directly to snow. Next spring and summer I’ll have more time to prepare for winter.

I’m finding Wisconsin has two seasons -winter and preparing for winter.

[Sir Henry]

Much fun on a snowy Sunday! 11 degrees.... Going out around here 42 with some wind stopped my decision to go down to my range today to spread some deer feed around plus have work to do around the home today.New refrigerator coming tomorrow and might have to grease it up to get thru the back door....going to be tight! Think I remember seeing a door jamb spreader down at Harbor Frieght!

Door spreaders are also known as shot guns.

[North Country Gal]

Or what I hear a lot over here is our two seasons, Snow and No Snow, but NO Snow is only long enough to repair your snow blower before we get back to Snow.

[Sir Henry]

Or what I hear a lot over here is our two seasons, Snow and No Snow, but NO Snow is only long enough to repair your snow blower before we get back to Snow.

Summers are actually nice. Spring and fall seems like they lasted one week. I ventured out and shot more going in and out of the house several times. Then I took a long nap under an electric blanket. My bones don’t like the cold like when I was young.

[North Country Gal]

Very true. Spring and fall can be short to basically nothing at all, up here. I've seen some springs that went from snow to 90 degrees In just 10 days.

[Oldbrass]

Norman Rockwell couldn't have painted it better, you enjoy my friend

[fortyshooter]

Just be glad you are not in Buffalo NY. !!

[Sir Henry]

I shot again this morning. All .22LR pistols.

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First up was my Mares Leg. I didn’t realize how nice the trigger was till I shot the Sportsman immediately after shooting it.

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The trigger is really a hard pull even in SA on this Sportsman. I think I may not have noticed it before because I normally shoot close up. Today I was shooting both 25 and 35 yards which requires a bit more skill. Didn’t hit any metal.

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I only shot the 11”x11” trap at 25 yards with this Ruger. I missed the first shot then hit the next five.

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Both the Ruger and this Uberti have nice triggers. I only hit the trap twice out of five shots. The sixth was shot at the berm and I could see it hit the sno about two feet high and to the right at 50 yards. I think it’s more me today than the pistol.

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No six feet of snow here although I should be shoveling and not shooting.