Monthly Archives: August 2010

So much fun, so bloody exhausted.

Posted by TD on August 29, 2010 5 comments

Next year I will do a better job of planning for Blogorado.

Doing a twelve-day work week right before the trip, which itself consisted of one full day of travel, two days at Blogorado, and another full day of travel back to home, and then going right back to an unusually hectic week at work has left me just completely spent.

Let it be said, the trip was great. FarmGirl and all of FarmFam were wonderfully gracious, generous, and all-around awesome hosts. And damn good cooks. FarmMom’s chicken-fried steak richly deserves its reputation, and the scrappy nibbles are far tastier than calf testicles have any right to be.

The bloggers were all great, too. Every single person there was fun and entertaining and I wish I’d had more time to chat with everyone. We usually had three or four parallel conversations going on, all interesting and worth following, and it was impossible to take it all in. Hell, we could’ve kept going for WEEKS if that pesky “real life” hadn’t gotten in the way.

Sadly, real life came back with a vengeance and kicked my ass all week, so it’s off to bed for me…

We now return to our usually scheduled broadcast already in progress…

Posted by TD on August 17, 2010 3 comments

Twelve-day work week is behind me, thank $DEITY, and I’m using my days off to prep for Blogorado. Today’s big project was getting my Pelican 1750 ready for the trip. These cases come with three layers of foam inside. The top and bottom are used as-is, but the middle layer is meant to be cut out to accommodate the items you’ll be transporting.

I followed this guide over at arfcom, though I bought a commercial foam cutter instead of making my own. It worked pretty well, too. If I were doing it again I’d affix the template to the foam with double-sided tape or glue instead of tacks, since long thin parts like barrels can get a little wiggly.

The result:
Pelican case
Pelican case 2

The three shiny things are silica dessicant packs to keep the inside of the case nice and dry.

Here’s the templates and trimmings…
foam and templates

If you’re going to do one of these yourself, I’d recommend having a helper on hand to hold everything steady. The cuts are easy at first but get tougher the further you go, since the foam starts flopping around.

Fun and easy? Not particularly. Frankly, I’m just glad it’s done and I didn’t ruin anything.

A Desperate Bleg

Posted by TD on August 5, 2010 1 comment

Alright, I’m hoping to take a couple of rifles out to Blogorado in a Pelican 1750 case. I’ll be flying Delta one way and Continental the other. I can’t seem to get a straight answer on whether or not rifle cases are exempt from the usual oversize baggage fee. The airlines’ websites aren’t real clear on the issue, there’s conflicting information on the ‘net, and their “customer support” call center people can’t even seem to wrap their minds around the question.

Anyone know the straight poop? Got contact info for a clueful person at either airline? Anything?!? Someone’s gotta know…

Worthless Without Pics

Posted by TD on August 3, 2010 4 comments

As promised, here’s the .303 Brit.

A rollmark I never thought I’d see…

.303 British

And the .303 next to its big brother, the .450/.400 Nitro Express 3″. A very British pair.

pair of No. 1s

The Nitro Express on top has a 24″ barrel with a medium-heavy contour, while the .303 Brit has a light 22″ barrel. The big gun is also outfitted with a NECG white bead front sight and an NECG peep sight on the rear scope mount base. The .303 will be getting the same sight set-up in the next few weeks.

.303 an .450/.400

.303 Brit and .450/.400 rounds. Few know it today, but the original Cordite load for the .303 was almost a perfect Mini-Me of the standard load for the .450/.400. It drove a heavy, long-for-caliber 215-grain bullet (sectional density .318) at 2050 fps, while the .450/.400 launched a 400-grain bullet (sectional density .338) at 2125 fps, give or take.

I’m hoping to get both guns out to the range on my next “weekend” (two weeks from now) to get zeroed before Blogorado. The Nitro Express just got fitted with a new, slightly lower front sight and the .303′s never been fired, so both guns need some sighting-in work.