About The Unexpected ?

[Dusty44]

On Dec 6 or 7 MidwayUSA published an ad mentioning a Hornady reloading manual (8Th edition) and I sent them an order for it in the middle of an afternoon because there was not already a copy in my collection.  They Promised  6 days and did it to me AGAIN.  I count on those delivery times:  BUT 30 HOURS later it was on my porch!  Ground!  From the wilds of Missouri to the prairies of North Texas,  HOW QUICK?  For reference,  a package from across town took 7 days and arrived on the same truck!  Sportsman's Guide and Duluth Trading (Long Tail T-Shirts*[copyrighted]) take,  usually,  10-14 days;  LL Bean takes about 4 days with stops in NYC and other places from what is often strange routing across the Rust Belt or sometimes through the Deep South?  Winter weather is understandable but most of my shipments are en route in summertime.  Maybe the real question should be:  "What is going on with UPS on the northern reaches of I-35?"

The Hornady manual has some new numbers to contemplate about grains of powder.  I had hoped there would be something about their new powders for 308 Win and mostly for the 44 Rem Mag.  I really want a load that will work for both the Marlin 1894 and the 4 inch S&W with the Cast Performance 300 grain bullet (For hunting.  For fun the 240 gr SWC's and 8 grains of Unique?).

The S&W 44 cal revolver got a fiber optic front sight,  EGW blade with red dot.  Put black Sharpie ink on the front so the gun is black from the front.  The intensity of the red dot is fantastic.  Tried looking at it outdoors with shooting glasses and got that quick and easy aiming at all angles of light and all times of day into deep twilight.  In near dark the red dot still glows and is easy to tell aim just by where the black rear sight does or does not blank out the dot.

In any case,  no more shooting and certainly no hunting this year.  I mentioned already about a belly ache in July that became an emergency appendectomy.  During the first few days of November the incision wound that was taking its own time healing became infected (again) and I spent the month in hospital enjoying a constant drip of super power IV antibiotic. It is not over,  but the infection is gone and I am home again and back to doing a little reloading for tests when it becomes practical again.  It was a lesson to be in a place where my tendency to feel like a grandpa to Father Time got kicked in the butt.  Most of the patients were both a whole lot older and a whole lot sicker than I have ever been.  Worth burning a candle for them and all the others like them.

Trying to decide about a .223 or fill in the collection of handguns with a SAA or maybe an 1861 Army?  Whatever.  Time to pursue that after the start of the New Year.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all of you!

[imschur]

Good to hear from you man. I nearly died from the infection I got after my appendix was removed. I got steadily worse after it was removed and ended up in ICU for nearly a week. They were starting to think they left a sponge or something in me.

Anyhow glad your on the mend.

Midway - I think they do enough volume that there's always trucks getting loaded and probably get a good deal on fast shipping. My problem has always been how the package items.

Good luck with the next purchase...keep us updated.

[SWshooter]

8 grains of Unique is a great load for a cast 240. I've gone up to 10, but that is a pretty stiff load and starting to show pressure signs. H-110 is my favorite magnum powder for 357, 41, and44 mags.