Sporting Arms

Written by LHRangeShooting on January 18, 2018

long range rifleIn a world that depends on self-protection if not hunting, it is good to know that there are some companies that are dedicated to providing the best possible guns, ammunition, and other accessories. There are some companies that have been in the business of providing quality weapons for more than 100 years. Their inventions include long range rifles, muzzleloaders, scopes, and everything else you could possibly want to have access to. However, as a gun owner, you hold the biggest responsibility of all. Understanding how to use it properly, store it safely, and have the right type of equipment for the things that you want to do, whether its protecting your family from harm or bringing home tonight’s dinner.

The Long Range Rifle

scopeThe long-range rifle is designed for hunting. They are powerful, accurate, and depending on your skill level; able to put diner on the table every night if needed. To be successful at long range shooting, you will need to calculate the ballistics, especially in the way the wind may affect where the bullet goes. Scopes can help with accuracy and help you to compensate for a lot of different things; especially the gravity pull that your bullet will have to deal with when reaching its target, but the wind is something you must understand. Your rifle will only be as accurate as you are. To ensure you always hit your target, you will need to take into consideration the wind, distance, and the atmospheric conditions that you are shooting in.  The longer barrel will help you some, but you must still be able to aim true.

Finding Your Scope

muzzleloaderThere are a lot of variations in rifle scopes and to get the best scope for your rifle, you will need to have a good understanding of what you are looking for. Scopes are generally designed with the main tube that measures 30-34mm in diameter. If you want to have a larger range of adjustments to work with, you will want to focus on a larger diameter scope tube. From there, a larger objective lens size increases the amount of light that your scope will be able to grab. Therefore, the larger lens is better for evening shooting or early morning when the sun is just starting to brighten the sky. Low dispersion glass minimizes the color fringing and makes the images you see inside the scope sharper. The reticle and focal plane, turrets, and adjustments, and magnification will further increase the scope’s accuracy so that you have less to think about when taking aim.

Muzzleloaders

A muzzleloader is a unique type of gun in today’s world. They are the types of guns that require you to use a projectile, or bullet, after loading it through the muzzle rather than the stock. They are harder to make and higher tech than other guns. Therefore, only the biggest names in gun manufacturers make them and they often reproduce the sidelock, percussion, and flintlock guns. The modern ones also use modern mortars that have a shell around the propelling charge and a type of primer attached at the base.

 

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Keeping Camp Cool During Summer Hunts

Written by Long Range on June 17, 2018

off the grid campsFor many people, hunting season does not always fall during the cool weather months. This means that hunting trips can be very hot. In the south, days can be in the 80-90-degree range, and at night temperatures can still be hot and humid. This is further compounded when you have many hunting camps that are “off the grid” and lack some of the creature comforts that we have at home. They often have a limited power supply and no real places to cool off, and this can make keeping camp cool during summer hunts pretty hard to do.

Off the Grid Camps

hunting earlyIt is great to be off the grid when hunting. Chances are good, the hunters who venture out to these areas are looking for time away from the real world. They want to be off the grid where cell phone reception is sometimes lacking, where they can simply become one with nature and enjoy the thrill of the hunt. However, this does not mean that they want to give up hot showers and central air conditioning units. Most hunting camps offer very little heat in the winter and virtually no air conditioners during the summer months. It requires too much power to try and run those things. Heat usually comes from rustic fireplaces and coolness from a ceiling fan that barely turns properly. Is there a solution that you can take along with you before your next hunting trip if you miss the AC?

Cooling Down Camp

huntersYou could bring a small portable fan to keep you cool after a long day of hunting, but sometimes they are not effective when it is hot and humid outside. For that reason, we read a lot of Whynter portable air conditioner reviews here: http://icecoldliving.com/reviews/whynter-14000-btu-arc-14s/ and found our ideal hunting solution. These portable air conditioners can cool off a camp without pulling much power. They are easy to move around, and we can use them at home and then take them hunting with us when we go. It is more effective than a big box fan, a ceiling fan, or anything else on the most humid of nights when we want to get up early in the morning.

Going After the Big Game

Sometimes, you will hunt better if you get a great night’s sleep in a hunting camp because it allows you to focus better in the early morning hours when deer and other large game is most active. It is before the temperatures climb up again and there is fresh dew on all the things that they want to eat. It is the quietest part of the day, especially when you are not yawning because you didn’t get the sleep that you needed to be alert and focused on your upcoming hunt. Your aim will be truer, and your skills will be more evident to all who are hunting nearby. During the heat of the day, you will have a way to cool off and rest up so that when evening rolls around, you will be ready to go out again.

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Keeping Your Game Fresh

Written by Long Range on June 14, 2018

deerHunting is a great sport. There are people who spend their entire year waiting for the next hunting season to come along. They often strive to catch the biggest, most beautiful buck that they can find. It is often enough to provide food for their family and friends throughout the season when they are unable to hunt. The biggest problem with this is keeping your game fresh until you can get it back out of the woods.

Gone Huntin’

showing off killHunting is a great way to get out into the world. It is something that makes bonding with other men easier and gives them a way to compete with one another to see who can bring in the biggest. It also means getting out into nature, and in some cases; you may have to venture way out into the woods where vehicles are unable to go. This can make keeping your catch a little difficult. To carry large game, you would need a large cooler, but they can often be too heavy to carry deep into the woods, but to stay fresh; it needs to be iced quickly. How do you handle it?

Keeping Game Fresh

A lot of hunters recommend that you start dressing the game as soon as you kill it. This allows you to get rid of the waste and it does help to keep the meat fresh. The main goal of this is often to let it bleed out so that it does not end up tasting bad from adrenaline. However, some hunters go the extra mile if they are completely out in the woods where their trucks cannot go. They go ahead and cut it up for individual meals that they can prepare when they get to camp or back home. These hunters know that icing the meat down is the key and often carry along a cooler for backpacking that makes it easier for them to do it.

The Thrill of the Hunt

hunters bondingWhether a hunter catches anything or not, half the fun of hunting is the hunt itself. Its time with the boys. It is a time when they can test out their skills, show off their most trusted weapons, and more. As they camp out for the evening hours, they can further their time away from real life by sitting by the campfire having a cold one, and simply enjoying all that nature has to offer. It is made even more enjoyable if they can have a fresh piece of meat on the campfire or the grill and often it doesn’t matter if it is a fish that was caught, or a slab of the biggest deer caught that day. Either way, if the catch of the day goes bad before it gets to the nearest freezer, it is a bad time for all who venture out. No true hunter wants to take a chance of that happening, because then it becomes a wasted kill, which defeats the point of hunting for all who enjoy it.

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Custom Scopes & Mounts

Written by Long Range on April 12, 2018

long range setupIn the world of long range target shooting and hunting, the shooter has options. They can choose a gun that works best for them, a stand if they need one to be included in their gear, and scopes. There is an endless array of scopes for hunters and target shooters to consider. Each one different in some slight way. You need to choose carefully when looking at a scope. There are certain guns that require custom rifle scope setups. You have to make sure that you are using the right custom scopes and mounts for your weapon, otherwise, it will not live up to your expectations.

Choosing Custom Setups

scope mountIt isn’t so much that the gun itself is custom, but each and every gun will have unique needs, the same as a hunter will have needs that are different from the person next to him. Two identical guns can have a good one and a bad one depending on the person holding it. Even a cheap gun can be accurate and powerful. However, if it does not have the right scope and mount, it will be a cheap gun. It is the same as the hunter. Two hunters will fire the same gun differently and most likely will require a different scope and mount setup to have an aim that is true. The best thing you can do for yourself and your hunting or target practicing ability is to choose the right mount and scope. The rest will be in the setup.

Guns That Are Unique

scope and mountWith all of that, there are some scope mounts and guns that require more customization than others. The price of the scope could indicate the quality according to most people. In ways, they are not wrong. The more you are able to customize the setup of your rifle scope, the more expensive it will be because you have to pay for those little tweaks and the ability to make them. For instance, if you choose the 300 blackout scope, you will have a lot of different ways that you can customize its setup to work for you. There are not many scopes out there that can work as it does and do what it is able to do. It is very popular, but at the same time, it is not something that many companies can make. It is one of the most expensive that you can buy because it is unique.

Do You Have the Right Stuff?

Choosing a mount and scope that you can set up properly for your rifle and the way you handle it can be difficult. You will have to play with the scope and mount set up to see if it works for your rifle. If you can achieve the long range shot that you were hoping to make with accuracy that you are expecting, then you have the right stuff and the right setup for your gun. This also means that you have the right equipment on it to help you do all that you are hoping to do with it, whether it is hit a target dead center or drop a buck that is 300+ yards away.

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Gun Safety Starts with Proper Education

Written by Long Range on March 8, 2018

teachers and studentsThere is no denying it; we live in a world that is becoming more violent each day. When you turn on the news each day, something bad has happened in some part of the world that we live in. The crazy part is, a lot of the violence that is going on today is happening in our schools. This had to lead to a country wide debate and discussion about how teachers may now conceal carry firearms when they venture into the classroom. Do you think it is a good idea? It could be what protects our children from harm, but gun safety starts with proper education for teachers and all staff.

Overall Opinions of Teachers Carrying

guns in teachers handsThere are many people who feel teachers should carry weapons to protect the students that are in their care 7-9 hours a day, five days a week. However, there are just as many who say that we are crazy for letting teachers have weapons because it takes guns into the schools that we are trying to keep guns out of. It is mostly students who have issues with teachers having guns, but a lot of parents are upset over it as well. Students say that they are nervous about it for a variety of reasons.

Why Students Worry

students speak out about gunsA lot of the older students who are asked, say that they feel that teachers should be able to have access to a weapon, but younger students seem to disagree. The older students, juniors and seniors, say that teachers should carry a weapon if they are trained and most adults agree that the teachers should have an FPEA membership before they bring a gun in the school. This way they would be properly trained about what to do during a bad situation and how to use it if necessary. Younger students, early teens, would prefer that the security guards have guns and not the teachers. Their concern is that a teacher could be having a bad day and that they would take out their anger in the classroom. The truth is, there is a potential for issues, but even this could be handled by ensuring teachers were not overly stressed. Perhaps have them attend counseling to make sure that they are not overly frustrated with students in their classroom.

Overall Opinions

Most people, adults and children, feel that protecting the school is a top priority because our students of today will be the future of tomorrow. The question remains about how to make our schools safer. Everyone will have their own opinions. Overall though, there is support for the idea of teachers carrying because they are the ones who are in a classroom with the children, often sacrificing their own life to protect the children in their care. This means you have to ask, “why not give them a weapon to protect themselves and the children more effectively?” Doing so could make the difference on who is able to walk away from a violent attack on our schools in the future. We just have to make sure that our teachers are fully prepared to do what needs to be done in a bad situation.

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