Author Archives: Woodsbum

The Lost Art of Cut Shells

by Woodsbum

Back before slugs were produced, people had to improvise a bit. What they came up with was a great way to use bird shot and make it operate as though it was a slug. Watch the video:

If you watched this to the end you can see how the entire hull shoots out the barrel and keeps the shot together until it comes in contact with the target. As it was explained in the video, you have essentially created a 70mm Glaser shell.

As you can probably imagine, these would fire best out of a break action shotgun and would probably not feed too well. I wonder if some tape would hold the shell together long enough to feed through a pump, but powder escaping the shell would be a concern.

I can definitely see this as a great self/bear defense round in a coach gun and now wonder if I should consider getting one for just this purpose. This is quite ingenious, however. Little tricks like this make me quite happy.

Blocked Barrel

Leave a reply

by Woodsbum

For those that read my site regularly, you know that I am fairly into firearms. I like all types of firearms, archery, knives, and about anything that flies through the air towards a target. Some weeks ago I had a problem with my muzzleloader where a jag got stuck in the barrel and I somehow pulled the tip off the end of my ramrod. These obstructions are now cleared of my barrel and I will be taking it out to shoot sometime soon.

It is not an easy task to clear something from a muzzleloader barrel. In most muzzleloaders the breech plug is not something that is easily removed. Instead, you have to pull out the nipple and cleaning plug to pack in some black powder to shoot the obstruction out. Only do this if you know that the obstruction is not double load. You do not want to discharge a double load of black powder. This may cause injury to yourself and/or your firearm.

To clear the stuck jag in my rifle, I ended up having to use 50 gr of Triple 7 powder. This is almost a full charge. At lower charges the jag wouldn’t move at all so we had to increase powder loads until it came loose. There really was little other choice, but luckily it came out without issue.

Just remember that you do have a cleaning screw that increases the flash hole size to pour the powder into. That screw has to come out to load it. If you don’t do that it is possible to have the nipple bust loose due to back pressure. Once filled, you will need to put that screw back into place along with the nipple.

Reminder To Be Safe

Leave a reply

by Woodsbum

Here is a first hand account of someone that was attacked while thru hiking the Appalachian Trail. Here is his story:

His story is here

This goes to show a few things in regard to bear encounters. Bears do what they want, when they want. It first attacked the guy in his sleep and bit down on his leg. When the guy fought back, the bear really didn’t go anywhere. It kept on messing with him. Once the guy finally got the bear to leave for a short period of time, he was able to escape. The bear came back after he left for help and destroyed his gear. It would have destroyed the hiker if he was still there. If the guy had some sort of personal protection to fend off the bear he might have faired a bit better. Of course it is not “politically correct” to carry a pistol for protection, but a .44 mag through the face of a bear chewing on my leg would have been my #1 choice. This guy punched the bear and screamed at it as his only form of protection.

This guy also was the cause of the bear destroying someone else’s tent due to the blood trail he left on the way to find help. When they went into some shelter, the bear shredded the tent of the girl that was helping him.

So, let’s recap this whole thing:

Guy gets bit.
Bear shreds tent
Guy punches bear
Bear shreds tent
Guy yells at bear
Bear shreds tent and chews gear
Guy takes off to another tent
Girl helps guy and they go into some shelter
Bear shreds that tent and chews all his gear
Cost of bear attack on humans well over $1000 due to no active protection against bears
Bear will probably be shot because it hurt a human
Guy needs EMT to give him a bandaid.

If it had been me:

Guy gets bit
Bear gets shot
Guy bandanges himself up and makes breakfast (bear tenderloin and backstrap)
Guy patches half dozen holes in tent and continues hiking
Bear still dead, guy taken care of, no further damage to guy or girl like previous story and lots of bear jerky for the rest of the trip

Seriously people, don’t go all touchy/feely because you want to save Yogi. Yogi was a fake bear. Protecting yourself in the wild is exactly that: protecting yourself. Get serious about it and actually make certain that you are going to come home.

Solo Sprayers

Leave a reply

by Woodsbum

Several years ago I purchased a Solo 428 Backpack Sprayer. Seeing as how it was Solo brand and thus a fairly reputable company, I was under the impression that my $100 sprayer would be able to be repaired for years to come. Last night I pulled it out to use it and found that this theory was going to be put to the test, for the pump was broken.

I drove around and called several dealers of Solo sprayer products. No one seemed to have the parts for this sprayer and the unit was discontinued. Being a little miffed, but understanding that I could probably just contact the manufacturer I went ahead and bought a new Stihl with hopes of repairing the old Solo as my “loaner” sprayer.

When I called the Solo company I was told, “We don’t carry that sprayer and it was made by Plasindo. You would have to call them.” Solo outsourced this sprayer, put their name on it and now dismisses customers when they ask for help getting parts? When I asked the “customer” service representative to confirm that I had inadvertently purchased a $100 disposable sprayer and they don’t support this product with their name on it I was told, “You can deal with Indonesia, but I don’t know if the hassle will be worth getting the part. Just buy a new one.”

Seriously, this lady’s recommendation was to just “buy a new one” because they don’t support products that they outsourced from Indonesia. My question is: WHY DID YOU PUT YOUR COMPANY’S NAME ON IT THEN? Why would I have bought an overpriced sprayer from Solo if they were going to be so dismissive? I understand things being discontinued and no more parts being available for a product due to age. If that was the answer then I would have cursed a bit and just dealt with it. When the answer comes out that I overpaid for a disposable unit because they don’t support it, go deal with Indonesia….. Come on Solo.

Here is a picture I downloaded from the Internet of the sprayer. The piece that is broken is the copper tube portion of the pump.

Solo 428

I am now hoping that I can fix the cracks myself with my welder and get it back up and running. The cost of this unit was definitely not worth it since it can’t be repaired.

Chalk this up on the board as a lesson learned. I will never buy a Solo product again and have gotten to the point where I only tend to buy Stihl products. They can be repaired and hold up 10x better than their crappy Indonesia competitors.

Been Sick

Leave a reply

by Woodsbum

If you have been wondering why I have not posted much these last couple weeks, it is because I have been really sick. Let’s suffice it to say that not only have I missed work due to this bug, but I actually went to the doctor for it.

After a shot of antibiotics in my hind quarters and two antibiotics to take orally for a while, I am finally STARTING to feel a bit better. There were periods of time where I was running a 103 degree temperature and barely able to stand. It was that bad.

Now that I am starting to make a recovery, I will post a few things this week and get back on schedule. Right before I got sick, I ran into some problems with my black powder rifle. I also got an antler handled ferro rod that I am going to cover. I also picked up some antler to make a 70 gr powder measure for my Hawken. All this will be coming up in the next week or two.

Again, I am sorry for the lack of posting. Getting well and back on my feet was really my main focus.