The firearm thread

[jono035]

I went possum shooting last night for the first time with some of the lads. My mate I went with owns a .22 and the thing is lighter (and quieter) than a slug gun. I couldn't believe it as the last .22 I fired weighed about 6 times more than the one I used last night.

We shot and killed 4 possums and left 3 wounded that escaped into the bushes. One was right up the top of a tree and we honestly shot the blasted thing about 8 times, it just would not die, nor would it even fall to the ground!! Eventually it fell but it was still running around so I stomped it to submission with my steel caps and we then executed it with a bullet through the back of the head.

Was awesome fun. I can't wait to go again!!

Yeah, some of the synthetic stocked .22s are damn light. If you're taking 8 shots to kill them then you're hitting it in the gut. You should really be trying for head/upper body shots otherwise they're prodigiously tough, learnt that one from killing them with air rifles. Generally it's 1-2 shots per possum, any more and I get frustrated. It's also not a good idea to shoot them when they're on the ground, .22 bullets are so short and fat that they will actually bounce off stones. I used to do that until I had a few go back past me and now just give them one good, solid stomp to the head, crushing the skull (quite humane according to my sister, a vet ...).

Was it with open sights or a scope?

[DarkLord]

It was with a scope. I tried to hit them in the head but my aim is not brilliant as of yet... lol.

They're tough bloody things though, my flatmate shot one right through the neck and it flopped out of the tree like it was dead, then it still got up and ran off!

[jono035]

It was with a scope. I tried to hit them in the head but my aim is not brilliant as of yet... lol.

They're tough bloody things though, my flatmate shot one right through the neck and it flopped out of the tree like it was dead, then it still got up and ran off!

Yeah, it's a bastard when that happens. We've got an old Rottweiler and a geriatric Fox Terrier that we take hunting. The foxy gets the first one that falls then tries to carry it home while the Rottweiler clears up any others that hit the ground. Even then I've had a few charge off back up the tree again.

Don't know if this is your issue or not but just an observation from talking to a few other people. If you're using an adjustable power scope, try using it on the lowest power you possibly can. Higher power scopes are more prone to parallax issues (point of aim changes depending on where your head is) so you might be hitting dead on when firing at a target straight in front of you, but shooting up at a 30 degree angle you might be quite a ways off.

Failing that, a decent laser sight (not a cheap chinese one, they don't hold zero... I have about 4 in the garage now) and you'll be getting them in the head every single shot.

[Swoop]

Ooh ya!
South Island rocks!!!

[Mr Merde]

Today we had our first meeting with the council. Pre submission.

We presented all the information we have gathered and put together over the past 8 months.

They were very impressed with the quality and the quantity of the information we have gathered.

They asked us to do a few more things before we make the submission.

They want more information on expected traffic volumes over a week and over a competition shoot.

Thye want us to talk to Papakura Council as the proposed area is only a few hundred metres from their border. As I work for that council I have already spoken to the planners and they see no problems.

We also need to talk to the Franklin Council noise officer (on holiday at the moment) as they accepted the sound of one rifle but wondered what would happen when there are a lot of people shooting at the same time.

We also have to talk to the local Iwi as it seems thatr there are some old kumara pits on the 87 hectares and they need to be involved (wonder how much that is going to cost us)

Any way the good news is that we probably will be going unnotified and only have to pay $1000 rather than the $10,000 if it were notifiable.

Once the submission is made it will only take 1 month and then we will start work. Everything is just waiting for the word. All safety gear is ready, all range dividers are ready, all props are ready.

We are in negotiation for a grant for all our costs and once the consent is given we will be all go.

Chris

[JDK]

just seat ya card then with a sheet of bee's wax place over the mouth of the case and forse in to the case makeing a beeswax disc there ya have it a sealed brass case ..

and i grovel at jono's feet been flat out was away doing foresty work for a while and now playing catch up at home got about 3000 lambs to head off in the new year so kind of a mad house

JDK

[Indiana_Jones]

Sounding good Chris, thanks for the update mate

-Indy

[The Pastor]

nice unnotified makes everything EZ, the iwi should be sweet if you're nice to them.

[jono035]

just seat ya card then with a sheet of bee's wax place over the mouth of the case and forse in to the case makeing a beeswax disc there ya have it a sealed brass case ..

and i grovel at jono's feet been flat out was away doing foresty work for a while and now playing catch up at home got about 3000 lambs to head off in the new year so kind of a mad house

JDK

No worries mate, I've got a shell off Chris, anyway. Had entirely forgotten about the plans due to getting set up for casting.

Talked to a couple of metal suppliers (for interests sake). One of them could supply pewter for the tin but was pretty obnoxious about the whole thing on top of refusing to even tell me what the tin content was in any of their product. The other guys were happy for me to bring in my own lead or to source me scrap lead and then mix it up to make some high tin/antimony lead to mix with pure lead but weren't really interested in doing it unless it was getting up towards 100kg and said that it'd cost me $2.50 a kg just for the mixing. Apparently you can get antimony into molten lead without going too nutbar on the temperature, you just need to mechanically agitate it (quite vigorously and for quite a long time was the impression that I got).

I was also going to spend a few days trying to find some other tire stores that were more likely to have clip on wheel weights but that got shuffled off to the side by other issues. Might have an ask around up north, I'm pretty sure they're less likely to be getting decent prices due to transportation bs etc. so might take some stuff up so that if I find anything I can bring it back as muffin-ingots.

Either way, it's back to looking like I might be ordering a box of stuff from Rotometals in the US early next year just for the sake of simplicity. Can easily tack stuff onto the order, USD$44 per 19lb box for shipping, just let me know if anyone is interested.

[The Pastor]

And now for something completely differnt.

[jono035]

RM: Looking good, how are the re-looming plans coming along?

Chris: Good to hear that the range is in progress. Are there any of the guys from Central Shooters involved in those plans? Was talking to one of the range officers at CSI and he said that they had some plans afoot for a range down that way, I'm assuming they are one and the same?

[Mr Merde]

.......
Chris: Good to hear that the range is in progress. Are there any of the guys from Central Shooters involved in those plans? Was talking to one of the range officers at CSI and he said that they had some plans afoot for a range down that way, I'm assuming they are one and the same?

As far as i know there is no one from CSI involved in the formation of our club and the development of the range.

We decided at the beginning that no one who was on the committee of another club would be on the committee of this one. We have all been through the situation where a club has been hijacked by others and becomes something that it was never meant to be.

Chris

[jono035]

As far as i know there is no one from CSI involved in the formation of our club and the development of the range.

We decided at the beginning that no one who was on the committee of another club would be on the committee of this one. We have all been through the situation where a club has been hijacked by others and becomes something that it was never meant to be.

Chris

Yeah, I remember you mentioning that but then talking to this guy he was adamant that they must be the same because they were so close and he only knew of one in the works.

2 new ranges is much better than 1, anyway...

[Swoop]

We have all been through the situation where a club has been hijacked by others and becomes something that it was never meant to be.

Alpha PC???

[Mr Merde]

Alpha PC???

Waiuku PC --Originally the Auckland Black powder Club, hijacked by pistol shooters and the BP boys were forced to move.

Papakura PC-- Hijacked by a committee member who had his own agenda. He had good members kicked out if he had any disagreement with them. Club went from 60 members to anout 17 in 2 years