Once upon a time a long long time ago.
Ma Wheeler moved out into the boonies to homestead and raise her family right.
She grabbed a new husband that liked to shoot and seemed pretty handy around the house, rounded up the kids and headed out to a small town on the edge of the wilderness that we'll call Misty.
She raised her kids up the way she remembers being brought up in the '30's with raisin' chickens and rabbits, growin' a big ol' garden and huntin' fer fowl and game. She had the new husband, whom we'll just call Pops, build a big ol' smokehouse and she kept the kids busy catchin' fish and grindin sausage outta the game. Well, also a lot of wood cuttin' and rock pilin', weed pullin' and various other chores such as you might have on a homestead.
After several years of rock pickin' and weed pullin' and canning veggies and buildin' a root cellar, Ma Wheeler had a pretty fair place and her rebellious son Rufus had had enough.
It seems that our hero Rufus could just barely remember the big city and it seemed to him that livin' in the city was a whole heck of a lot easier than pickin' weeds with the chickens. So he packs up his duffle bag and heads off with visions of Mickey D's in his head.
Our hero soon found that the city wasn't exactly the way he remembered it and in order to survive he had to perform tasks that made shoveling out the chicken coop after a long winter seem downright pleasant.
But he couldn't just go back in defeat. No he needed a clever plan to get invited back so he got married.
He took his young bride back home to "meet the family" and was invited to "spend the summer" helpin' out and lettin' the family get to know his new bride. They were given the new goose coop that had just been built, for a summer house since the geese hadn't moved in yet.
Rufus was also given a old shot gun and some "field" loads that Pops had carefully handloaded makin' sure not to put too much powder in "just in case"
The shotgun was for shootin' at mean ol' Mr. Rottenhammer's dogs that have been killin' Ma Wheelers rabbits.
It was powerful hot that summer and the "summer house was small so Rufus and the new bride were known to sleep "in the raw" as it was known in those days.
One night Rufus was woken to the sounds of Ma Wheeler yellin' "Rufus get the gun, the dogs are killin' the rabbits". Rufus grabbed the gun and ran out into the road and fired three rounds at the retreating canines. Immediately all of the neighbors turned on their porch lights and peeked out around the curtains to see Rufus standin' in the middle of the only intersection intown dressed only in a shotgun.
The dogs were unhurt as it seemed that even though they were full of fresh rabbit they could still outrun the shot from Pops "field loads".
My question is; since I recently inherited some of those old "field loads" is there any chance that they have improved in velocity over the years or should I just save them for targets that stand still?
Your help is much appreciated
Wheeler44 ( no relation of Rufus
)
Ma Wheeler moved out into the boonies to homestead and raise her family right.
She grabbed a new husband that liked to shoot and seemed pretty handy around the house, rounded up the kids and headed out to a small town on the edge of the wilderness that we'll call Misty.
She raised her kids up the way she remembers being brought up in the '30's with raisin' chickens and rabbits, growin' a big ol' garden and huntin' fer fowl and game. She had the new husband, whom we'll just call Pops, build a big ol' smokehouse and she kept the kids busy catchin' fish and grindin sausage outta the game. Well, also a lot of wood cuttin' and rock pilin', weed pullin' and various other chores such as you might have on a homestead.
After several years of rock pickin' and weed pullin' and canning veggies and buildin' a root cellar, Ma Wheeler had a pretty fair place and her rebellious son Rufus had had enough.
It seems that our hero Rufus could just barely remember the big city and it seemed to him that livin' in the city was a whole heck of a lot easier than pickin' weeds with the chickens. So he packs up his duffle bag and heads off with visions of Mickey D's in his head.
Our hero soon found that the city wasn't exactly the way he remembered it and in order to survive he had to perform tasks that made shoveling out the chicken coop after a long winter seem downright pleasant.
But he couldn't just go back in defeat. No he needed a clever plan to get invited back so he got married.
He took his young bride back home to "meet the family" and was invited to "spend the summer" helpin' out and lettin' the family get to know his new bride. They were given the new goose coop that had just been built, for a summer house since the geese hadn't moved in yet.
Rufus was also given a old shot gun and some "field" loads that Pops had carefully handloaded makin' sure not to put too much powder in "just in case"
The shotgun was for shootin' at mean ol' Mr. Rottenhammer's dogs that have been killin' Ma Wheelers rabbits.
It was powerful hot that summer and the "summer house was small so Rufus and the new bride were known to sleep "in the raw" as it was known in those days.
One night Rufus was woken to the sounds of Ma Wheeler yellin' "Rufus get the gun, the dogs are killin' the rabbits". Rufus grabbed the gun and ran out into the road and fired three rounds at the retreating canines. Immediately all of the neighbors turned on their porch lights and peeked out around the curtains to see Rufus standin' in the middle of the only intersection intown dressed only in a shotgun.
The dogs were unhurt as it seemed that even though they were full of fresh rabbit they could still outrun the shot from Pops "field loads".
My question is; since I recently inherited some of those old "field loads" is there any chance that they have improved in velocity over the years or should I just save them for targets that stand still?
Your help is much appreciated
Wheeler44 ( no relation of Rufus
)
