airedale

You did good, nice job! Al

I have been seeing a few in my yard under the bird feeders for the past few days. Al

"Sharpshooters" in Pulaski comes up for me as does "AXtactical" in Utica they are pretty much equal in distance from me. I price checked both outfits and "AXtactical" does a little better on the stuff I compared. Al

I saw an advertisement from one of my local gun shops that has an affiliation-partnership with this outfit called the National Firearms Dealer Network. I went to the site and checked it out and they seem to have a pretty good inventory of firearms, scopes, accessories and ammunition at fairly decent discounted prices. The way it works is you hit the buy now button and it asks you to put in your zip code. It will then show a listing of affiliated dealers that are closest to you with the selling price they want to get for the item. It looks like you pay with a credit card along with a fee, what ever you purchase is then shipped to the dealer of your choice. The dealer will call you when your order comes in and you just go and pick it up. I checked out a couple of different dealers and apparently they set their discount because prices varied. Once you decide on a dealer you can save his home page to your favorites and the next time you check in you will go directly to his affiliate home page. It is a good site just to get an idea of what stuff is going for. http://www.nfdnetwork.com/ Al

I am well aware of the potential problems due to recoil when scoping break barrel air rifles, the NP Trail will be a good test for the Bugbuster, if she holds up I should be OK. When it comes to problem guns like this Benjamin I can and will usually come up with a solution and fix myself, been at this kind of stuff for a long time and I like the challenge. Al

It is one of those Benjamin NP Trail nitro pistons in a 25 cal, it does not seem to have much recoil at all compared to the springers so that should not be much of a factor. This gun has caused me big time headaches getting a scope properly fitted because of it's long welded on scope base that I do not believe is properly aligned. I have several nice scopes laying around that for one reason or another could not be mounted back far enough to give a full field of view, or I could not get them high enough, some actually ran out of adjustment to get zeroed. The scopes I could get on this thing were big game scopes without an adjustable objective and the parallax too severe at short ranges to shoot accurately. It has been a real nightmare. I hated to buy another scope but to make this gun right I was forced to. So as far as fit everything is good with this Bugbuster, it is at the right height, it is back far enough to get a proper field of view, my boresighter shows it is on target and that there is plenty of adjustment, and it has an adjustable objective that eliminates the parallax at air gun ranges. I will give it a good wringing out when the weather gets good. Al

I just mounted one of those 3X9 Bugbusters on a Benjamin Air rifle, I have not had the opportunity to sight the gun in yet so I can not say how well it performs but from what I am seeing it looks very nicely made. The one thing I can say it is very heavy for it's compact size. Al

The Syracuse gun show is coming up April 16&17 there is always a big selection of M1 Garands there for sale. Al

I have two Simmons 22 mag scopes that were purchased back in the late seventies. At that time Simmons scopes were just being introduced into the US market and they were made in Japan and a concerted effort was made to be of very high quality. If I remember right back then they cost me around $130 each. I think so much of their overall quality that one is mounted on a Winchester 52 sporter and the other on a Remington 541S both are higher end guns at least for me. The Simmons of today I know nothing about, and while they may be a good scope they have not been made in Japan for some time and at $50 today I would have to think there is a substantial difference from their early days. Al

Depending on the scope I would not have any qualms about buying used as long as you do your homework. I have in fact saved quite a bit of money doing so. I just purchased a 2.5X Leupold compact that can not be told from new and saved $70 plus tax. Really no risk with Leupolds as they have a lifetime guarantee. Just yesterday mounted an old Redfield 3200 20X target scope on my Model Win 52 target gun, that scope I picked up years ago for a song when I bought the 52. It still works fine and today and it is worth 7 or 8 times what I paid for it. That being said I would probably stay away from a lot of the off brand imported cheap stuff that is used. Al

I can tell you when it comes to rifle scopes more often than not you will get what you pay for. Many times a cheap scope will be a recipe for disaster especially on guns that recoil hard or if they get exposed to rain. A 22 rifle does not have the recoil to shake a scope apart to so one can get away with a lower cost scope although the lens systems on those scope are not optically the greatest. Also with a 22 you will want a scope that the parallax is fixed for shorter rages that a 22 is normally used or one that has an adjustable objective to correct any parallax. All that being said there are some scopes that are modestly priced that have pretty good reputations for 22 rifles, The BSA sweet 22 is a pretty good choice that has a decent track record and will set you back 60 or 70 dollars. Ebay is a good place to pick one up. Al

Nice outfit you have there that looks right, you will never go wrong with a Leupold scope. Al

Speaking for myself it has also been some of the most fun! Al

Also if the necks are stretching and they are being trimmed several times the neck's thickness will sometimes increase to the point of causing higher pressure. In that case you should turn the outside of the neck down. Al

Tough to say but all brass is not created equal it could be the thickness of the brass overall making for a little less capacity thus elevating the pressure. Al

"The older I get the more I know how little I knew when I thought I knew it all" Al

For both novice and expert a real good resource for finding a starting point with many cartridges is a book called "Pet Loads" by Ken Waters. I have used this book many times when loading a new cartridge or just researching for something better and and have always had good results. A bit different from a typical reloading manual as the loads in this particular book are the best of the best. While the data is goes back a few years it is still pertinent today and anyone who reloads will not go wrong with this one, it is really good! Al

To put it bluntly award shows make me puke, I will not watch them! Al

I have three Thompson Centers, an inline Black Diamond in 50 cal, a Cherokee in 45 cal and a Hawkin with a stainless Green Mountain 45 cal barrel with a fast twist that will shoot conicals and sabots decent. The Cherokee is by far my favorite even though it will only shoot round balls accurately, I use it just for targets and plinking but I am sure I could kill a deer with it. Al

I tried that route for the Kent Matrix bismuth I could not find a single dealer around my area who could locate any, all said their distributors did not carry it, I even made a post about it here last fall as to anyone knowing a of a dealer that carried it. As for other ammo the savings and convenience of buying direct from online would be lost, on the other hand for certain very hard to get ammo one will have to bite the bullet and pay the shot to whomever can get it. Al

In my case I have a couple of older double shotguns that are not proofed to fire steel shot for waterfowl. Kent matrix Bismuth is the only shot I will use in these guns but there is none to be had anywhere in central NY. I found plenty of it available online but can not have it shipped. I finally found a vendor that carry's IXT shot which is a Bismuth type shot for reloading and purchased some of that so now I can make up a batch of my own. Like you said Grampy there can be had many good deals on ammo to be found online but for us NYers because of the king and his safe act we are screwed! Al

Purchasing ammo from vendors across the country with the best price and having it shipped to my home. Al

I can't wait for lasers and ray guns or maybe a drone firing gyrojet projectiles to become legal. Al

You will also be a short drive from eastern Canada, good Bear,Caribou and Moose hunting and the fishing is pretty darn good too, I like the hunting in Newfoundland, great place in my opinion. Al

Back when I shot small bore pistol I would buy 22 ammo by the case of 5000 rounds which between matches and practice would last maybe a couple of months, I could not even shoot a match with a two magazine allotment. Total crap, like Doc said this is not about crime, they just want to keep chipping away!! Al