steve1

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Everything posted by steve1

  1. I might be interested in that Stylemaster reserve, (if it has a 26 coni. in it). I had that exact reserve, even the same color, in the early 70's. It didn't match my navy blue (Super Pro) main container, but I figured I looked pretty stylish anyway. I never was very color coordinated. It was hard to pack a 24 ft. reserve canopy into that container. That was a real work out....Somebody said a 24 ft. wasn't ment to be packed into it. I wish B.J. Worth would have told me that when he sold it to me. I about ruptured my back trying to get it closed up, every couple months. What was the repack cycle back then....I forgot already. Was it six weeks?
  2. I only lost one rip-cord over the years. I'd usually jump a rig that had a big handle. I'd just slip that over my wrist. If I had a malfunction I could still operate my shot and a halfs and pull my belly mount reserve. On my second malfunction I spilled my guts and gave my rip-cord a toss. I wouldn't have done that, but I wasn't very current at the time, and figured I need to get rid of this thing. Somebody said they heard somebody scream like a girl too.....but it wasn't me, I assure you.
  3. Sicily Drop Zone. Is that the same one, near Ft. Bragg? It brings back memories of my army jumps..... I dig those old pictures!.....Makes me want to get some old gear and partake on the fun.
  4. But what if you are tied to a goal post in high winds?
  5. That was how the story was told to me....Maybe it was a big lie. Either that or nobody was smart enough to figure that out. I'm still wondering though....would that bring you back down in high winds? I've never seen anyone try that. This might make a good science experiment. I've got an old P.C. and harness, and climbing rope. Now all we need is a test pilot and a windy day....P.S.....I'm too old for para-sailing....
  6. I remember a story of a jumper who got a long rope and tied it to a goal post on a football field. It was very windy. Quite a crowd had gathered to watch. His para-commander lifted him right up, but there he was, with no way to get down. He was stuck up there for a very long time, until the wind died down. I'd hate to be stuck up there with B-12 leg straps digging into me, for over an hour. I'll bet he was hurting from that.... Another time it was too windy to jump at a boogie. Someone tied a rope to a para-commander and harness. One guy grabbed ahold of that harness, and up he went. Fortunately he had sense enough to let loose at about 15 feet, because he was climbing fast, He slamned into the black top. If he hadn't let loose he would have been hanging by his fingers at a break neck altitude. Yep, "Stupid is, as stupid does!"....."Been there, done that!"
  7. I think I may have told this story before. I'm not sure though, so here goes again. Don't you just hate old farts who tell the same story over and over again! I bought a new para-commander back in 1972 for three-hundred bucks. It was solid red, and I just loved that canopy. Somebody said that you could para-sail with one. I couldn't wait to try it out. So, one day, I dug out 150 feet of climbing rope. I figured I'd give it a go. My friends and I found a lonely stretch of highway. There was also a set of powerlines on one side of that road. The road was paved. I gave those power-lines a second look. I decided that they didn't scare me none. After all I was 21 years old, bullet proof, and really really stupid. We strung that rope out and tied it onto the back bumper of a car. All three of my buddies had been drinking. The drunkest one of all, said, "I get to drive!" Well, I might have been young and dumb, but I wasn't going to have him drive. I dispatched a different friend to get behind the wheel. He wasn't quite as drunk. I wasn't sure how to tie the rope onto my harness. I think I tied it low on the front risers. After all I had never seen para-sailing done before. I strung my brand new para-commander out on the pavement behind me. There was absolutely no wind. I quickly found out that para-sailing doesn't work too well without a head wind. Somebody shouted go!....and off we went. I'll bet I was running forty mph, when I fell over and got drug. When I got up I tried to pretend that I didn't hurt all over. After all, not only was I young and dumb, but I was young and tough. We thought for a minute, about why this wasn't working.....We decided to give it another go. The driver decided he needed more accelleration. Well that time, I was taking 15 foot bounds and had my legs pumping for all they were worth. We must have been going at least 60 before I fell over again. I'm not sure how much hide I lost on that stretch of pavement before I came to a stop. Maybe I should have dressed in leather.....My Bell helmet probably kept me from getting nocked unconscious.... One side of my face had skidded down the pavement. I had this huge piece of face that was now bloody. The first thing I noticed was that my heels hurt like hell. Both of them were bruised terribly. I walked around like a ballerina for a couple weeks after, but none of that kept me from working the next day as a construction worker. I guess the good news was that nothing was broke.....except my brand new para-commander. All that dragging on the pavement had ruined several panels. I decided then and there, never ever to para-sail again....It was just too rough of a sport.
  8. I respect your opinions Chuteless....I still want to shake your hand some day.
  9. It's kind of fun to be immoral and stupid in the right setting......Life is too serious, most of the time. Breaking from the norms of society isn't always a bad thing. Hell, I know a guy who broke from the norms of skydiving and jumped from a perfectly good airplane without a parachute.....
  10. The only jumper, that I ever met, who went through the power lines and survived, was Fred Sands. On the old power lines there were three wires. Two were closer together and there was a little wider space for the third wire. Fred went right through that bigger opening under a flat reserve. The spot may have been a little long. Fred had a malfunction and cut away his paracommander. It was just about dark when Fred hit the power lines. The lights went out in the club house and everyone ran outside. He touched one wire but not the other. It shut the power off on one side of Kalispell. Fred survived to jump another day. That's the way I remember it. It's been about forty years. Fred is known as Cosmobuddy on these forums. In the old days most jumpers called Fred "Ferd". I haven't heard that name since. Fred has always been one of the jumpers I looked up to. Fred and Dave Tousey were the first jumpers to break the 1,000 jump barrier in Montana. There's a reason jumpers often didn't survive to make a thousand jumps back then. Maybe Fred can tell what happened better than I can. I'm sure he remembers the details a lot better than I. I knew another guy who went into the power lines. He wasn't so lucky. He was blinded for quite a while from all that electricity. His watch even burned a hole into his wrist. Everyone called him Sparky after that......
  11. There's nothing better than reconnecting with old friends.
  12. This round may be too explosive. Hunters don't use ammo like that because it might use up all it's energy on the surface, and not penetrate deeply enough, into the vitals. You don't want a round that is going to blow up on someone's leather jacket. Super explosive might be great for not penetrating walls, but at the same time you need a bullet that will penetrate deep enough to reach the vitals. I used to hunt with a hollow point bullet. Actually it was called a ballistic tip bullet. After having it fail on four different game animals, I went to a better hunting bullet. All were hit in the shoulder blade and the bullet didn't penetrate. It blew a heck of an entrance hole, but only went in deep enough to blow up on bone. The same may apply in defensive or tactical situations.....You don't want a bullet that blows up too easily....
  13. I got that new scope last night. It's a 30 mm scope. It's definitely fatter than the standard one inch tube. I have one worry about this scope. It has the heavy duplex reticle with the fine lines in the center with stadia lines. This is the XLR Vortex reticle. First focul plane. I'm worried that the fine center lines will be hard to see in low light. I wish now that I had ordered the illuminated reticle too. Maybe that is what happens when you order something too hastily.
  14. *** ........................................................................ This won't work well in some rifles. Some rifles have a really long throat and a short box magazine. If you loaded your bullets out to almost touch the lands the rounds would be too long to fit in your box magazine. Remington 700's have a fairly long throat. The rifling is out there quite a distance in your chamber. All my Remington's also have a longer box magazine, so they will still fit. I have one Winchester model 70 with a somewhat shorter throat. The magazine is still long enough to accept longer bullets. I also have a Savage 99. It has a very short rotary magazine. It will not accept longer bullets. I could shoot it single shot for accuracy, but that is not practical for hunting. One word of caution.....If you load a bullet too long it will not chamber and it could increase chamber pressures drastically if it is too tight. You don't want the bullet to touch the rifling lands. You want it just short of that. I use a magic marker to test this out on my seating depth. I mark the bullets with the marker, then chamber a round.....if I can see the rifling marks the bullet is too long. If you don't seat your bullets out, if you have a long gap before the bullet engages the rifling, the pressure is not as consistent to push the bullet out the barrel. In other words the bullet will jump for a fraction of an inch before the bullet engages the rifling and barrel some gas will jump ahead of the bullet......Maybe someone else can explain this better. It is a huge accuracy trick to seat your bullets longer. But be careful with this. I loaded up a bunch of ammo with bullets that were too long. I drove out to go hunting, and couldn't close the bolt. Luckily I found some bullets that were loaded shorter. More on this later. I have more stories to tell.....
  15. You guys are answering my questions.... What do you think about first focul plane versus second focul plane. If you would have asked me about that four weeks ago, I would have said, "What the hell is that?" My new scope is a first focul plane scope. The stadia lines will measure one minute of angle no matter the power setting. On my old second focul plane 3X9 scope, I had to always make sure I used nine power for sizing up game and targets. I used to use the width between the duplex reticles for that. It worked fairly well on deer sized game out to 500 yards.
  16. Thanks for the advice Winsor. You'd probably forgot more about concealed carry than I'll ever know....
  17. A quality range finder is probably going to be my next investment. I suppose you get what you pay for. I may watch e-bay for a quality range finder. I've heard tha Zeis is really good, but at the same time their warranty isn't for very long. A buddy of mine bought a Vortex range finder, and he said it wasn't very good. Thanks of the advice.
  18. Anybody know much about range finders. I've held off on buying one because I've heard that many give inaccurate readings. I'd like one that is accurate beyond 500 yards. You can spend a ton of money on some of this gear. I sometimes wonder if figuring out how big something is using your stadia lines or mil dots wouldn't be more accurate than many range finders. Being able to accurately determine range may be the most difficult thing about long range shooting. If you are off a little you may miss. Some shooters use a formula such as known size in inches X 100 divided by minutes of angle. You can use the stadia lines in your scope for this. Some formula's are quite complicated. One guy I know uses some type of slide rule. Some use hand held calculators. I hate the idea of doing some difficult math poblem before taking a shot. Maybe this would be easier after you got used to it. I wonder what type of range finders the military uses. They seem to have some really expensive, good, gear these days.
  19. I know what you mean. I've got two different sized Glocks. Both are difficult to pack around. I'm still searching for an easier way. I like carrying it on my hip, outside my pants in a paddle holster. It's hard to conceal without a coat, vest, or long shirt. They say you should carry every day, because you don't know when you'll need a weapon. I just don't do it because the bigger pistols are such a pain to carry all the time. I bought a Ruger LCP 380 a while back. There's really no excuse not to pack it around. It fit's in a pocket just like a wallet. The bottom line is that little pistols are more difficult to shoot. Small pistols usually are. It would sure be a lot better than nothing though. I put a laser on it. That makes aiming a lot easier.....
  20. Congratulations on your purchase!
  21. I started reloading about fifty years ago. Yep, I'm an old fart, but then again I was only about 13 when I started. I got a RCBS standard press for Christmas one year. As long as I didn't blow the house up, it was okay with my Dad. That is still primarily the press I use today. I don't think it's even made any more. The RockChucker RCBS press would be a better, reasonably priced press. It's been made for a long time. To be honest I don't reload nearly as much as some people, so I sure don't know it all. I've never turned the necks. I don't have a tumbler to clean my brass. But I can still produce some very accurate ammo, that will shoot tiny groups. I've got a powder measurer, and that speeds things up some..... I also weigh every charge to get them exact. A powder measurer sometimes thows inaccurate charges. A trickler is a big help with that. I set the powder measure a little light, and then trickle in a little more powder, (onto the scale) to get each charge exact. I've only made one major mistake, over the years. One time I got a faster burning powder mixed up with a slower burning powder. I guess I'm lucky I didn't blow that rifle up. Make sure everything is labeled carefully. If you have a powder measure....label the powder in it. Just my two cents worth.....Wolfriverjoe knows a ton about guns. He's set me straight more than once.
  22. It's really amazing the difference a variable can make on accuracy. That 270 I mentioned, was grouping around an inch at a 100 yards. I went 1/2 grain hotter and shot a 1/4 inch group. Probably the greatest accuracy trick I've found is loading the bullet out to almost touch the lands. That almost always improves accuracy. Some tricks don't seem to make a whole lot of difference. Taking notes and being scientific and exact is important though. Sometimes you'll get a rifle that just won't group like it should, no matter what you do. I gave up on one rifle that should have been a shooter. Maybe it had a poor barrel. I've always had good luck with Remington 700's. Savage makes a good out of the box rifle. With some tinkering they usually shoot well. The big unknown for me now is estimating range. That is critcal for long range shooting. I know the military uses a mil dot reticle. The scope I ordered is minute of angle. I hope to use that to help estimate range. I never was a whiz at math, so I'm going to have to work at figuring all that out....
  23. I thought I knew a fair amount about long range shooting, but the more I learn, the more questions I have. I've got a couple 270's and a 30/06 that I've worked up accuracy loads for. I recently shot a 1/4 inch, four shot group (at 100 yards) with one of those 270's. I have to admit that is the tightest group I've ever shot. I have that target on my office wall. I'm working with a 300 magnum right now. It's got a 26 inch barrel, Remington 700, three pound trigger, glass bedded action, floated barrel. I've never owned a long range scope. Without good glass accuracy at long range is tough. I just ordered a Vortex 3X16X50 mm. It's not the best quality, but I didn't want to spend more than $700. right now. Maybe someday I'll buy a Night Force or Schmidt and Bender. But I'll probably have to win the lottery first. I like the sounds of copper bullets, but I'll probably stick with Lead core bullets for the time being. Incidently I shot that 1/4 inch group with Nosler Accu-bond bullet. That is a hunting bullet not a match bullet, so I was tickled to find a load like that. I need to do some more experimenting.....