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Lead

Published by Robert Pogson April 17th, 2013 in firearms and hunting. 5 Comments

Lead is a cheap and plentiful metal. It is a waste product of the nuclear processes in stars and radioactive decay. The universe has recycled lead as a metal we can mine as sulphides, carbonates or as metal. Man recycles lead from scrapped batteries, roofing, pipes etc. Some of it eventually ends up in percussion caps and bullets used by shooters.

Besides the low price, lead has several very useful properties for shooters:

the high density, 11.34 g/cm³, which makes projectiles have a higher ballistic coefficient and deliver more energy to the target,
malleability, being very soft, lead is easily swaged into the shape of a bullet with modest pressure, and also easily deformed on impact to deliver a bigger wound,
low melting temperature, 327C, making it feasible to form bullets by casting, and
ease of alloying with antimony or tin to make harder bullets where required.

Copper, on the other hand, has a much higher melting temperature, is much harder and more expensive while having a lower density (8.96 g/cm³).
“Even though the Arizona Game and Fish Department distributes copper ammunition free to hunters, a small number continue to use lead. As a result each year up to half of the wild Grand Canyon condors require chelation treatment to remove high levels of lead from their blood.
"It is critical that we take mandatory actions to remove it from ammunition and require less toxic alternatives, said Sandy Bahr from the Sierra Club.
"Requiring non lead ammunition for hunting on public land would be an important step in limiting lead exposure for condors and other wildlife," she added.”
see BBC News – Lead bullet fragments poison rare US condors.

Sigh. Lead has the important disadvantage of being toxic to workers handling it, shooters firing it and ducks and condors eating it. Still, it will be a major expense to replace it followed with higher costs in the future and lowered performance on game. For example, a .308 Winchester can easily kill deer to 350 yards without adjusting sights for range while copper bullets although they may start with higher velocity because of the lower mass will slow faster. Copper bullets, except for energy delivered downrange are superior in performance but have a much greater cost:

There is some misinformation about all this on the web. For example, in long-range hunting country, the government of USA tested .30-’06 with lead and copper bullets at 50 yards! Clearly, this is the wrong rifle/bullet combination for hunting at such ranges. I always use a heavier/slower RN bullet for hunting in such situations because lead splashes like water at the very high velocities. One should not use a high-power rifle with high-velocity bullets at less than 100 yards. In bush most kills are at such short ranges. One should use hardened cores at least in such cases.

Because hunters are using the wrong rifles/bullets should not be used to justify the higher cost of copper. Education about better choices is key. I would recommend light high-velocity lead bullets only for long shots like 200 yards or greater. If you are in mixed open/bush country, have a heavy RN bullet in the top of the magazine and faster pointed bullets for open situations.

If you hunt with a rifle, use proper tools and you should not have to worry about lead fragments.

- Robert Pogson

To Hell With PETA

Published by Robert Pogson April 9th, 2013 in hunting. 4 Comments

‘If hunters stalk their prey, how well do you suppose they would like being stalked by a drone that hunts for the hunters? Hunters may not normally be concerned with surveillance or drones, but PETA plans to launch drones in order to "spy on hunters," collect footage, and then publicize it.”
see PETA plans to spy on hunters with drones

It may be no problem at all for some hunting activities but if I were stalking deer and trying to get close, a drone buzzing around would not be welcome. I need to hear small sounds in the forest and I need deer that are not alerted by that racket. Hunting is necessary in Manitoba and it is a right:
“(Assented to October 8, 2009)
WHEREAS hunting, fishing and trapping have played important roles in shaping Manitoba’s social, cultural and economic heritage;
AND WHEREAS hunters, anglers and trappers have made important contributions to the understanding, conservation, restoration and management of Manitoba’s fish and wildlife resources;
AND WHEREAS the best traditions of hunting, fishing and trapping should be valued by future generations;
THEREFORE HER MAJESTY, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba, enacts as follows:
Right to hunt, fish and trap
1(1) A person has a right to hunt, fish and trap in accordance with the law.
…
This Act may be referred to as chapter H185 of the Continuing Consolidation of the Statutes of Manitoba.”

Anyone, even PETA, interfering with that right is breaking the law. In fact by interfering with a hunter, they would be hunting without a licence.
“The Wildlife Act defines “hunting” as chasing, driving, flushing, attracting, pursuing, worrying, following after or on the trail of, searching for, shooting at, stalking or lying in wait for wildlife, whether or not the wildlife is then or subsequently captured, killed, taken or wounded, but does not include trapping or such activity by an unarmed person solely for the purpose of watching or photographing wildlife.” So, PETA (because their intention is to harass hunters) would be effectively hunting without a licence. If they did obtain a licence they would fall afoul of the harassment of wildlife sections, “Hunting from vehicles
22 Except as may be otherwise permitted by this Act or the regulations, no person, whether for himself or to assist another, shall chase, drive, flush, pursue, worry, harrass, follow after or on the trail of, or search for, any wildlife from a vehicle.”. Last I heard, an airplane is a vehicle.

- Robert Pogson

Hint: When Hunting Pythons, Use Bait

Published by Robert Pogson February 17th, 2013 in hunting. 9 Comments

"You can go out there for days and days and days and not see one python," snake hunter Justin Matthews said last month. "I don’t care how much experience you have. It is going to take some luck."
see Plenty more where those came from — final take in Fla. snake hunt is 68 pythons – CNN.com.

Achh! With possible 10K+ pythons to be culled in the Florida Everglades, people have been walking around looking for patient and camouflaged hunters… That’s just stupid. I have never seen a python in the wild and don’t want to but they are snakes and I know how snakes hunt, by smell… Hint: Use bait and guard the bait, 24×7. Pythons also sense heat so it may help to have live mammalian bait.

These snakes hunt in the trees and swamps so make a trail of scents at the boundaries of forests and swamps and leave the bait where you can watch it. Watch the snakes pile on. Be patient. Snakes move slowly but waiting and letting them come to you is much more efficient than walking miles where your motion alerts the snakes to be still and their camouflage developed over millions of years works for them.

Many years ago I had plenty of experience with garter snakes. They live in similar although colder terrain and they hunt by smell. Let a frog, earthworm or small fish come withing metres of them and the tongue (the sense organ) will flick more and more rapidly with the head moving from left to right to judge direction as they home-in on the prey. When they are really close and the tongue touches the prey, they lunge and it’s all over. They can catch a jumping frog in mid-air. Amazing.

Once again, knowledge is key to a successful hunt. I have been hunting more than 50 years. Simple things like knowing what the quarry is doing makes the job much easier and faster.

Here’s how not to do it. You can see a snake tracking a rat here. See that tongue flicking? That’s what it uses to hunt. If you want to hunt snakes you have to guard the bait at night, too. Smell and heat-sensing work best then.

Smell can also be used againtt the pythons using dogs.
“So far Jake and Ivy have located 19 pythons, one of which had 19 eggs.”
Two dogs did better than 1000 humans walking around.

- Robert Pogson

News For City-Dwellers: Wolves Are Predators

Published by Robert Pogson January 7th, 2013 in hunting. 0 Comments

“The Sakha agriculture ministry says 16,111 reindeer were savaged by wolves in 2012 – a 4.3% rise on 2011. That meant a loss to reindeer herders of more than 150m roubles (£3m; $5m), as each reindeer is worth about 10,000 roubles (£205; $328).
see BBC News – Russia: Raids by wolves spark 'emergency' in Sakha.

When a new species (humans) is introduced into an ecosystem, the usual predator-prey relationships are upset and must be adjusted. In this case, caribou were domesticated and must be protected by humans. Humans are in direct competition with wolves and the only solution is to hunt/trap the wolves in order to maintain a new balance. A country filled with starving wolves is neither safe for agriculture nor human habitation.

This may be news to city-dwellers who think of wolves as cute and cuddly ancestors of lapdogs. This may be news to city-dwellers that humans have to kill animals they don’t intend to eat but it is reality. City-dwellers should remember this the next time they conceive an idea to purge society of hunters and trappers and their tools, firearms and traps.

- Robert Pogson

Rare Privileges

Published by Robert Pogson January 6th, 2013 in hunting. 4 Comments

Today, I had the rare privilege of firing an antique firearm designed and built in the dark days of WWII. Unfortunately the magazine did not make it to the range and we had to single-load ammunition. This was, to say the least, a jarring experience as the bolt of the semi-auto rifle had lots of speed as it hit the cartridge. There was a danger of a slam-fire but, instead, we had the pleasure of a closed bolt. The rifle felt good to hold, not plastic and sheet metal but wooden furniture and lots of machined steel. The recoil was very mild, thanks to the great mass of the rifle and a muzzle-brake. The bullet arrived very near the point of aim. The fired case was ejected violently, near 1 o’clock.

The load was a 156 grain FMJ RN bullet on top of a compressed load of H1000 powder. Really, a smaller charge of faster-burning powder would likely have ejected the case more gently, I will work on such a load and try again when the magazine is available.

The AG42 was never really a state of the art rifle but it is a beauty and reflects great Swedish craftsmanship. The 6.5×55 Swedish Mauser is a fine cartridge for hunting or target-shooting having modest recoil and good ballistics. Unfortunately, this rifle hammers soft-nosed hunting bullets so is not ideal and semi-auto is scarcely needed for hunting.

In a bolt-action rifle, this cartridge can fire pointed bullets from 120 to 140 grains and 160 RN bullets for hunting or target-shooting and the ballistics are only a little behind the popular .308 Winchester cartridge. This is because the higher ballistic coefficient and higher rate of twist delivers more of the energy of the cartridge to the target. As such, it is acceptable for deer up to 350 yards. Unfortunately, this round is not popular in Canada so brass and bullets are more expensive…

I would recommend this cartridge in a bolt-action for youngsters wanting their first deer rifle or for women or lighter men wanting a rifle with less recoil. It is far superior to 6mm/.243 for deer and a much more compact round than .25-’06. .257 Roberts or 7×57 would be good choices for similar reasons. The military surplus M96 rifle is scarce these days and few bolt-actions are made in this calibre for North America these days so it was a rare privilege to fire this rifle. Only a few tens of thousands of AG42 were made but they still shoot smoothly as ever.

- Robert Pogson

My Son, the Master Angler (unofficially)

Published by Robert Pogson July 28th, 2012 in hunting. 0 Comments

Just returned from a fishing expedition with my son less than a mile from home. In an hour he caught two catfish, one 34 inches long, good enough for a “Master Angler” award. It took ages to haul it in. We knew it was big when it ran away at full speed with the drag set. It took ~100 yards of line before it tired. When reeling it in another line in the water was snagged so some reaching from shore with a long net was required. The net needed straightening afterward. Here is the result:

Cat Fish Caught in the Red River, Manitoba, 2012-07-28 by my Son

Close-up of the Head

Catfish Fresh From the River

Well, I didn’t teach him how to do that. He must have learned from his own mistakes… After the photo, the fish was gently returned to the water and resuscitated. It swam away under its own power.

- Robert Pogson

Google and Firearms, Ammunition and Accessories

Published by Robert Pogson July 1st, 2012 in hunting. 0 Comments

Apparently the “suits” (OK, so they dress casually…) at Google have decided “weapons” is the same as firearms and ammunition. It’s not. I shoot holes in paper and feed my family with firearms and ammunition. I don’t have any weapons…“1. An instrument of offensive of defensive combat; something to fight with; anything used, or designed to be used, in destroying, defeating, or injuring an enemy, as a gun, a sword, etc.
[1913 Webster]“

“We do not allow the promotion or sale of weapons and any related products such as ammunitions or accessory kits on Google Shopping. In order to comply with our new policies, please remove any weapon-related products from your data feed and then re-submit your feed in the Merchant Center. For more information on this policy please visit http://www.google.com/appserve/mkt/GbBNIGHOribLzf.”

Apparently, it’s a USA-thing:

There’s certainly no problem finding stuff in Canada, even products of USA… Hmmm… Maybe some policies are not global but political and local.
” AdWords doesn’t allow the promotion of weapons or devices designed to cause serious harm or injury. The promotion of weapons includes guns, gun parts or hardware, ammunition, bombs, knives, throwing stars, and brass knuckles.
We’ve created this policy to comply with legal regulations.
How does this policy differ from country to country?
In addition to the requirements above, some countries have further restrictions. Please see the additional country-specific requirements below.
United Kingdom
United States”

I guess the “problem” is lawyers wearing suits…

see Google Censors Guns, Ammo and Accessories – Guns & Ammo.

- Robert Pogson

Winter

Published by Robert Pogson May 28th, 2012 in hunting. 2 Comments

Winter is the chief killer of deer here. A normal winter kills a fair number of deer and particularly the youngsters who have not bulked up and cannot forage/browse in the deep snow. The past winter was very mild, both in temperature and depth of snow. I saw proof of that just now as a doe with three fawns trotted across the neighbour’s yard heading to the bush. Normally, a doe will have one fawn, with two in a good year and three in a fantastic year. I expect deer quotas for hunters will be increased as most of southern Manitoba had a very mild winter.

- Robert Pogson

Push Comes to Shove at the Canadian Senate’s Legal and Consitutional Affairs Committee

Published by Robert Pogson March 29th, 2012 in hunting and Uncategorized. 0 Comments

Today is the day the gloves will come off. This morning the agenda consists of statements and Q&A from two witnesses but this afternoon, clause by clause examination of the bill will happen. This is the last faint hope of the gun-grabbers to gut the bill.

During Q&A previously we have seen senators on one side support and help witnesses who pointed out the ill effects of the long firearm registry which has risked lives, harrassed law-abiding citizens, cost $billions and done nothing to improve safety for Canadians for 17 years. At the same times the gun-grabbers on the committee repeated the same old lies and refused to recognize reality when presented to them. They made it a “women’s issue” when many firearms owners are women. They made it a divisive issue between urban and rural when most of us have rural roots. They made is a divisive issue between police and the citizens by repeating the chants of managers of police forces and associations wanting to pump up policing budgets instead of increasing police presence. They repeatedly supported whimsey over rational arguments based on facts.

The last hope of the gun-grabbers is to throw out clauses providing for the elimination of the firearms registry for unrestricted firearms and the destruction of the useless data. There will be many clauses recommended for removal or change and many votes. The end is not in doubt but it is sad to see senators supposedly giving “sober second thought” acting like parrots.

see the notice of the meeting.

At the beginning of the second round of Q&A, a senator quoted Statistics Canada reports that homicide by firearms decreased more rapidly before the registry came into being than after. Heidi Rathjen, the witness, could only repeat that homicides had decreased after the registry came to be. Lack of rational thought is the hallmark of the gun-grabbers.

Priscilla DeVilliers, another witness, went on about what the harm would be if the registry were kept… Undermining the whole argument that the registry is about safety. Governments should not have legislation that is minimally harmful but provably desirable. Where is the desirability of an expensive, intrusive, erroneous system?

The meeting ended with a vote to report the bill unmodified back to the full Senate. Hurray!

- Robert Pogson

Another Day, Another Committee Meeting

Published by Robert Pogson March 27th, 2012 in hunting and Uncategorized. 0 Comments

Tomorrow, Wednesday March 28, 2012 will be the third of four days of meetings about C-19, a bill to abolish the foolish unrestricted firearms registry in Canada. For 17 years we have born this burden. It has long ago worn out its welcome.

The list of witnesses is long:
“Bill C-19, An Act to amend the Criminal Code and the Firearms Act
Other witnesses may follow
Rick Hanson, Chief (Calgary Police Service)
Murray Grismer (As an individual)
Mario Harel, Vice-President, Chief, Service de police de la Ville de Gatineau (Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police)
Wally Butts (As an individual)
Hélène Larente (As an individual)
Bernard Pelletier, Spokesperson, Firearms portfolio (Fédération québécoise des chasseurs et pêcheurs)
Morgan Crockett, Member, Dawson College student (Dawson Student Union)
Francine Anna Dulong (As an individual)
Bruno Marchand, Director General (Association québécoise de prévention du suicide)
Luc Massicotte, Mobilization Coordinator (Association québécoise de prévention du suicide)
Mathieu Murphy-Perron, Executive Director (Dawson Student Union)
A. Lee Foote, Associate Professor, University of Alberta (As an individual)
Martha Jackman, Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa (As an individual)
Gary Mauser, Professor Emeritus, Simon Fraser University (As an individual)
Linda Silas, President (Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions)
Claude Bégin, Planning Officer, programs and research (Directeurs de la Santé publique du Québec (Lanaudière))
Dr. Caillin Langmann, Resident Physician, McMaster University (As an individual)
Dr. Jean-Pierre Trépanier, Regional Director (Directeurs de la Santé publique du Québec (Lanaudière))”

You can follow the meeting in more detail here. Time of the start is 2:30 pm, EDT. It’s a rainy day here. I should be able to follow closely and take notes.

- Robert Pogson

Reloading Ammunition for Fun and Profit

Published by Robert Pogson January 3rd, 2012 in hunting. 3 Comments

I admit it. I am a gun/firearm nut. I am not really irrational, just highly enthusiastic. The winter is hard for a gun nut. It’s cold outside and there’s snow on the ground. Hunting seasons are mostly finished and I am a bit old for trapping. I can fondle guns and ammunition but that is not satisfying.

Instead, I reload the empty rounds. Reloading has many benefits besides keeping fingers busy: Continue reading ‘Reloading Ammunition for Fun and Profit’

- Robert Pogson

Giving Back to FLOSS

Published by pogson December 3rd, 2011 in hunting and technology. 2 Comments

Today, I had the opportunity to give back a little to FLOSS. I downloaded and installed the GNU Exterior Ballistics Calculator (gebc) to use with my hunting and target shooting. It took a bit of fiddling to install in Debian GNU/Linux because a file had a different name (case of letters). Continue reading ‘Giving Back to FLOSS’

- Robert Pogson

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My Mission

My observations and opinions about IT are based on 40 years of use in science and technology and lately, in education. I like IT that is fast, cost-effective and reliable. I do not care whether my solution is the same as yours. I like to think for myself.

My first use of GNU/Linux in 2001 was so remarkably better than what I had been using, I feel it is important work to share GNU/Linux with the world. I have been blessed by working in schools where students and school systems have benefited by good, modular software easily installed in most systems.

I have shown GNU/Linux to thousands of students and hundreds of teachers over the years and will continue in some way doing that until I die in spite of the opposition.