Nibble on They Tiny Feet

I can see why Kim du Toit gets so much traffic. It’s not the weekend pinups. It’s the guns! Every time I post a gun question, I get a pile of comments.

Last night, I asked about varmint calibers.

I feel funny, using the word “varmint.” Nobody really says that, except for shooters and cartoon characters and the Beverly Hillbillies. I have no idea what part of the country that term comes from, but wherever it is, I’ve never been there. Maybe Mel Blanc made it up. It’s sort of like “ornery.” Who says that? Or at least, who pronounces it the way it’s spelled? In Kentucky, people pronounce it “onry,” as in “onry old bitch.” I’ve never heard “ornery.” Or “dagnab it” or “consarn it.”

I’ve fooled around with two weird rifles: the K31 and the Romak III. The K31 is great, but the scope mount is not quite right. The gun shoots low and to the right, by around 8″ at 100 yards. The scope won’t adjust far enough to compensate. I haven’t gotten around to shimming it so the scope will be on the point of impact. I can’t quite get used to the idea of cutting pieces out of a beer can and putting them inside my pretty black rings. The Romak has a trigger problem I haven’t succeeded in fixing. I think it would be nice to get a cheap, accurate, modern gun that shoots relatively inexpensive ammunition, so I can finally learn how to shoot a rifle.

People are making suggestions based on the idea that I would hunt with it. I don’t see that happening. I have nowhere to hunt. If I did, I’d be hunting pigs. And that would mean scoping the Desert Eagle. There is no way I’d be able to resist. I wouldn’t be making long-distance shots, so a scoped pistol would be perfect. Although I’m afraid the pigs would pop like watermelons.

You don’t need much of a rifle to hunt pigs, anyway. The Cubans rely on the .22 LR. I think it would be a little weird, showing up with a heavy-barreled .243 with a scope. The Desert Eagle would be weird, too, but the fun factor would outweigh the weird.

I think the .223 and the .22-250 are good choices, because the ammunition is cheap. Not much more expensive than pistol ammunition. I might be able to avoid the trauma of setting up to do a new caliber on the ammunition press.

People were asking about the distance. As far as I know, down here, there is no place where you can go past 100 yards. But it seems like the best choices for that distance are the varmint calibers, so it doesn’t make any difference.

The first time I shot the Romak, I was next to an old guy who shot his own wildcat loads. Combining a .243 with something else. I forget. He said he spent his vacations killing prairie dogs. Imagine, paying two or three thousand dollars to fly to another state to shoot giant rats. That is a guy who likes to shoot. And not someone you would want to make angry.

Maybe I’ll expand the gun board at Manly Grub. In fact, I just did. I know the profanity filter will drive a lot of gun nuts away, but I don’t care. The Internet is filthy enough already.

Thanks for the tips.