Nice little outing in the woods/fields down in the back 40+.

It was such a beautiful winter afternoon, I couldn't sit around doing nothing, so took my truck down the woods road down back, then walked the last 100 yards to the edge of the blueberry field. We've had lots of snow, wind and other nasty weather in the past week or so and it was really great to be able to get close to the field over the 3" of crusty snow. The last 100 yards or so were rutted up from hunting and a trapper's daily visits during November.

My .17 HMR CZ 455 with a heavy fluted barrel accompanied me when I walked to the edge of the field and sat down on our old concrete bench (that had seen its better days nearer the house).

It was a fairly warm afternoon, with a mild breeze as I looked over the field, and except for distant crows cawing, was devoid of varmints. Fortunately, there are lots of large boulders scattered about and some had some spots on them that served as nice aiming points. I fired at scattered aim-points from about 80 yards to maybe 140 and was pleased that I could see my bullet strikes. I went through about 20 rounds and was quite happy with the accuracy, as I fired with the left elbow braced on my knee. At about 80 yards, I shot a tight group of 5 shots and was happy with the location.

The little .17 HMR has proven to be more fun than many cartridges/rifles I've shot. Accuracy and trajectory have been surprising and noise is minimal. Try one, you may like it!

 

Sounds like a nice relaxing afternoon alright, glad you took the time to enjoy it.
I agree on the .17 hmr, one of my favorite rifles. I always take it to the range and shoot it while waiting on my hunting rifles to cool down.

 

My F-I-L lives in Alton, NH. He said it was bitter cold and nasty at his place over the past few days as well, I’m glad you got a break from the weather and got to go out and shoot a bit!

Stay safe!!

 

I am envious of your fine afternoon. Glad you could get outside.

 

I once tried a .17 HMR at the range in a surprising circumstance a few years ago. I was getting my stuff together to leave when a young lad asked me if I knew how to adjust a firearm. Unsure of what he was expecting exactly, I asked if he wanted to sight it in. Visibly unaware anything else could be adjusted on a firearm, things unfortunately all out of my field of expertise, he happily answered yes. As he had been shooting a few rounds beside me with perfectible technique, I offered him to guide him through accurate shooting from a bench and sighting of his rifle. He first thanked me for the offer, leading me to believe he would accept it, but soon would ask if I could do it for him, if I wouldn’t mind. Confused by this offer of another shooter offering me to burn some of his ammo when it is not some magnum headache punching suffering a failure of a recoil pad rifle he is failing to shoot himself as bad as one can, well, even if I was due to leave, I decided to stay and help him. That little rifle was intriguingly ugly, unlike anything I had ever seen, but it shot with extreme accuracy. His scope was an entry level, but everything was brand new and I was fascinated to follow the corrections exactly where they where supposed to hit. Seeing I enjoyed shooting his rifle very much, he was going to go to his car to bring me some more ammo to shoot for fun as the rifle then shot dead center, one slightly bigger hole, at fifty yards. I thanked him, but explained I really had to leave and suggested he should shoot it and hopefully enjoy it. He then offered to pay me, which I refused, explaining it was me who had all the fun, before he packed his stuff and left. I never figured out what happened on that day. What kind of a guy buys a rifle extremely accurate, without any recoil, has plenty of ammo and doesn’t want to shoot it himself? I guess I still don’t get it. His rifle sure put the .22 LR I had shot that day (it usually shoots in a big quarter dollar at fifty, on a good day) to shame. People are so strange.

As for the weather, it is now milder here, now that my deer season is over. Two mornings at minus ten, some snow, some wind, and my all-time favorite, rain, big wet and cold rain for the full last day. Two hunters (dad went with me this year, it had been a few years since we hunted together, and he is not getting any younger, now closing on 73), thirty-something hours over the course of three week-ends, and the only deer we saw was on a private property by the road while getting to our spot. We saw the trail of a huge buck and a doe, but no deer to shoot this year. I cleaned my muzzleloader this afternoon. Ready for next year!

Until then, range time is in order. How did that nice guy, god bless his sole, use to say? BA/UU/repeat. And spend some time outside doing something we enjoy.

 

This coming Monday, it's supposed to be 50*F with little wind, so I may go to the rifle club to shoot. Someone wanted me to sight in their rifle, so it may be one of the last good days for a while. I want to shoot my .223 and the .17 a bit...not because I need to do anything but enjoy the opportunity at a nice shooting day.

 

I was asked to sight in other guys rifles at deer camp. Glad I did as both needed it. One was a very nice 7MM mag I gave to my son because I did not want to sight it in or shoot it anymore. I have a bad shoulder. Oh well. He shot 2 deer with it so I am glad I did it. I don't have a 17HMR as I have plenty of 22's I don't shoot now. But I have wanted one for a long time.