airedale

I never ate one, I did try a piece of Ostrich at the State Fair once and it was just OK in my opinion. These birds have no breast, most of the edible meat is on the legs. In the Rhea's case even though they stand 5 feet tall they have less meat on them than a large production bred broad breasted Turkey. Al

There was a movement back in the 80s to breed and raise Ratites [Ostrich, Emu, Rhea} for food, feathers and oil. There was some modest success in the beginning but that has since pretty much faded as it never really caught on. There is still some activity for the oil for cosmetics but not a lot. I purchased mine just for fun. Al

Raising various species of birds has been one of my favorite pastimes, I have messed around with waterfowl, gamebirds, Turkeys, and chickens for most of my adult life. One of the goofiest species I had the pleasure to have messed with were Rhea birds, pictured below on the bottom, they are of the Ratite family and are similar to an Ostrich but smaller. About 5 feet tall and around 70 lbs, the males get very territorial and mean as a snake. Al

For me hunting both Woodchucks and Squirrels down through the years has been my best teacher for making precision shot placements on game with a rifle in the field or woods at all ranges, conditions and positions. Al

You are a talking my language Dan, I lived dream and slept Woodchucks for many years starting much in the same fashion as yourself. Started out with a Savage single shot 22 that my Dad got me and shot my first chuck with it and remember the whole stalk as if it was yesterday. My Dad had a 222 Sako I killed quite a few with and he also purchased a Winchester 61 pump in the new at the time 22 mag chambering and I killed a bunch with that until I could afford my own Mossberg "Chuckster" bolt action 22 mag scoped with a Weaver V22. Finally earned enough money to hit the big time purchasing a used Remington 700 ADL in 22-250. It was off to the races from then on, I believe I purchased and loaded for just about every Varmint caliber available in those time. I also blasted away at them with all of my big game rifles and handguns for practice in the field. The main cartridges I used in addition to the 22 LR and Maggie 22 Hornet 222 Rem 223 Rem 222 Rem mag 22-250 Rem 220 Swift 243 Win 6 mm Rem 25-06 17 HMR And I would like to nail at least one with my Savage 99A in 250-3000 I would still be at it today if the Chucks were in decent numbers as I still have all those Varmint rifles, I still get them out a shoot them and they still drive tacks. Good memories. Al

I have always kept a few chicken here on the farm, my favorites are American gamefowl because of their toughness and hardiness as free rangers. Have a some Blues and Brownreds now and a few Jersey Giant hens.

That stuff does not bother me in the least, being under constant attack I like seeing him fight back and fight back dirty, looks to me he has taken a page out of Mohammed Ali's playbook with the naming of opponents. "Crying Chuck", "Nervous Nancy", "Sleezy Shiff" "Sleepy Joe", best part it is all true. Al

LOL, they are not shiny because of being polished, they shine because back in those days many die manufacturers plated their stuff to keep them nice. The dies on the right are old Bair machine tool dies also over 50 years old and they were chrome plated, Bair was partnered with and later bought out by Pacific tool and also chrome plated their dies, went by "DuraChrome", and I like both sets very much. "Pacific" was later bought out by Hornady. Al

When setting up my dies on the Lee Classic Turret press things got a little tight for adjusting and locking down the die lock rings. I was using my old Lyman All American carbide set that I purchased over 50 years ago, and while I have no complaints about the quality of the ammo they produce I do not care for the way they adjust and especially the outdated locking rings and set screw system. On my single stage press they are much easier to adjust and lock down but they are rough. So I got to looking around for rings to replace the OEMs and found Lee's "Finger Tighten Lock Rings", no wrench or screw driver needed although they do have a small wrench that is a help if using in real tight setups. I have to say these rings work as advertised and are so much better that any of the nut style locking rings, the secret is the rubber gasket, a simple idea that is a game changer. I like them so much that I am going to change out the nut style rings on all of my older die sets, a before and after below. Al

Too many focus on what he says, he loves stirring the pot, in the end for me it is what he actually does and so far so good!

Years ago I had a small flock of wild Turkeys here on the farm I raised from a pair of adults I purchased. Mine were of the western states Merriam's strain, the tail feathers and back saddle feathers are tipped in white. They tame down pretty well the big difference over from domestics is they are smaller and can fly. Getting back to the red head, in most cases I have observed when the Tom's head turns red he is looking for a fight and is pissed off, excited and angry. The dominant Toms I had would get pretty mean especially during the spring and many times had them come after me. Below is a photo of one with his head turning red and pissed off because I was walking through his territory. Another thing is the appendage over the beak also will start hanging longer and longer as they get excited.

I have put sling studs in a couple of synthetic stocks and have had no problem with them failing. As long as there is enough solid materiel for the threads to adhere and not a thin exterior layer that is hollow and filled with foam. I used JB Weld epoxy in the holes for extra strength, below is my Remington 597 Maggie with a synthetic stock that I installed swivel studs on. Also did my Remington Nylon 66. Al

Below is the little LED goose neck lamp I mentioned above, small but very bright, this little gizmo is great, with it's clamping system and neck adjustability allows you put light exactly where it is needed. It is rechargeable and the battery life is very long, I used it for several days before I recharged it. I have been able to use it on all my presses with no problem. Al

So once upon a time before the infamous "Safe Act" I had it in mind to buy myself an AR style rifle, I already had a couple of 223 Varmint rifles so an AR would fit right in. I accumulated a couple of thousand rounds of brass and decided to try a Turret press because of the large batches of 223 ammo I planned on loading and purchased a Lee Classic Turret. Well for me the Safe Act put the kabosh to that AR rifle idea, I just continued loading small batches for my Varmint rifles with my old standby Bair single station with the Lee just sitting unused. So as I mentioned in the "big case load" thread I have in my possession several thousand once fired 38 spl cases, I got that mess of cases cleaned up and decided it was time the Lee Turret earned it's keep. While I did try the Lee press a few times just to see how it operated this would be the first time I used it in earnest. A couple of things I did not care for about the Lee, the handle while it works ok is on the cheesy side and I was very used to the Inline Fabrication roller handle I put on my old Bair single station. So I changed out the OEM handle for a new Inline Ergo roller handle which I feel is a big improvement. Also I ditched the auto primer feed, I just did not care for it and can basically load the primers one by one almost as fast as the auto setup. I also installed a little clamp on LED gooseneck lamp to one of the support posts that lit up the shell holder area nicely. So there was a bit of a learning curve using this press, getting used to it was more from fifty years of using a single station loading thousands of shell that was more than anything else. With a single station each operation is carried out one at a time and a batch at a time. With the Turret you start with a case and go through all the operations and end up with a loaded cartridge and the loading rate is faster. One other thing, the Lee Auto Drum powder measure is the most consistent accurate measure I have ever used and I got three other pretty good ones, All and all once I got used to the Turret sequence things started to move along and the loaded cartridges started to pile up, at around the 1300 mark I ran out of bullets, I think that is the first time that has ever happened to me. By the way I have found that reloading components especially pistol bullets are just about sold out everywhere. So in the end I would say if loading large batches of ammo is your thing a Turret press would be worth looking into, but if loading a 100 or so a good single station is plenty good enough. Al

I will give a hint on what political party they support and contribute to, it begins with D.

The key word in your statement is avid which could be substituted for any of the following words also describing real hunters and shooters such as, fervent, passionate, ardent, dyed in the wool, true, impassioned, intense, vehement, fervid, sincere, profound, deep-seated, heartfelt. The people that vote for Democrats are none of the above, like John Kerry who outfitted himself with a shotgun for a photo op hunt the people that say they are hunters and pro second amendment that vote Democrat are posers, the loss of the second amendment and the right to hunt in truth means little to them. Remember every single anti hunting-second amendment organization supports Democrats and Socialists, they would wipe out hunting and shooting and this board off the internet if they had their way. It is part of the dem's political platform! Keep America Great!!! TRUMP 2020

I would like to mention that back in my gun shop days we had a customer come in with a blue model 60 chambered in 38 spl, he fired some "Plus P" ammo out of it and blew out the side of the cylinder and also knocked off the top strap. We sent the gun back to Smith and Wesson with a couple of stuck empty Plus P cases still in the gun. I got a phone call from the company a few days later that under no terms was Plus P ammo to be fired out of their J Frame revolvers and for us vendors selling those gun to make sure customers know that fact. Now that was some 40 years ago and manufacturing has come far as they now make model 60 J frames chambered in 357 mag capable of firing full powered loads with no problem. I do not know if their policy is the same with Plus P ammo when it comes to current production. I would fire just regular 38 spl in a model 60 chambered in 38 spl to be on the safe side. By the way they replaced the gun but the owner was lucky he only got a nice dent in his forehead firing the high powered stuff. There was a warning printed in their manuals so the customer was at fault. Al

Thanks for the offer but I prefer a 357 model because I also have quite a bit of 357 ammo and I like to have adjustable sights because I screw around with different bullet styles, weights and powders so most of the time point of impact changes with those different loads. I do like the S&W model 60 pro model pictured below a lot. Al

I did own a Ruger stainless Blackhawk in 357 many years ago, it was accurate and a good solid piece, I just would prefer a double action now. I also owned Pythons, a two and a half inch blue and a six inch nickel and a Ruger Security six four inch stainless. Years ago I worked in a gun shop and was a wheel and dealer back in those days and just decided to get rid of most of my handguns mainly because the permit system puts on to many limitations for wheel and dealing. Now with this dumb safe act nothing is easy any more when it comes to firearms. I do have a nice 1894 Marlin rifle that I can use this ammo in so I do have something to go bang with for now lol. Al

Will do, I have been shopping around and there is a problem with this Corona crap closing down stores for being non essential, hopefully things will get back to semi normal soon. I am also wondering if the permit offices are being affected? Al

So back around 40 years ago at a softball game I met an Airman that was stationed at Griffiss AFB in Rome NY, we got talking about firearms and he told me he was in charge of cleaning up the small arms range on base and had a ton of once fired 38 special brass that was just going to be thrown away and if I was interested he would get me some. I said sure as I had a couple of 357 handguns at the time and figured I could load up some plinking rounds. Well he shows up at my Buddy's sporting good store I was working at with a cardboard box packed with 38 special cases, somewhere around 5000! He did not want a dime but I made him take 10 bucks for his trouble of bringing them out to me. Never did a thing with those cases, they sat up in the loft of my barn all those years. So I got to poking around up there the other day and spotted that box of cases and said to myself I really need to do something with them LOL! Got the box down and found mice had got in there and made a filthy mess, they had a good old time for 40 years chewing up the boxes and case holders. So for the past few days I got down to business and started cleaning up the cases. I first took them out of their dilapidated boxes and washed them in a bucket of hot soapy water. Dried them good and then de-primed them all and then ran them through the case tumbler to polish them up. What a job! For loading I have 500 swaged semi wadcutters and 500 hard cast semi wadcutters to get thing started, I will be using a fairly new powder called TiteWad mainly used for shotshells but also it works well for plinking handguns loads using only 3.5 grains. The bad part is all this ammo is going to make me have to buy a new pistol, Geeze! I was set on the new Colt Python but see they have been having some problems with their early production, The S&W model 27 is a strong contender along with the Ruger SP 101 Match Champion, I will be making up my mind soon. Al

There is no place for that kind of behavior anywhere!

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Actually there is only a small handful of the membership that has to worry and you know who they are. Al

Now you are getting the idea! Al