Random Thought Thread

Had some helpers hanging out all day while I was working on fences. I rented a gas powered t post driver, and thought where have you been all my life. It’s awkward trying to get that heavy thing on top of an 8 foot t post a first, and keep it plumb, but once you get the hang of it it’s awesome. I stood on a mounting block that was easily moved around.
IMG_9039.jpegIMG_9042.jpeg
I sent the pictures to my sister and she said that the lighter one had a “I want to talk to the manager” look
 
beeinak said:
E- after discovering a boatload of wasps with a huge nest residing where fascia board had become loose, I think I might shoot some spray in there before trying to nail it back in place. Full disclosure I noticed a few wasps around but then peeked inside the opening I found while wearing a headlamp. I think the wasps decided the light was a target🤣.
Be safe up there fixing it.
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If you need to get rid of wasps you can make some bait from burger and pesticide. You put it in a dixie cup inside a jar and secure it to a location or hang it from a tree. You may want to put the lid of the jar on it and just cut a quarter sized hole in the top so birds don't take the bait.

1. Use only Fipronil – no other active ingredient. You can get Taurus SC from amazon. It's also found in flea and tick killers.

2. Mix 0.1% with hamburger. 6 to 10 drops per golf ball sized gob.

3. Add Rescue yellow jacket Attractant

4. Renew bait daily.

5. Continue use for 4 days.

This will wipe out all the wasps within a pretty good area. Make sure you put the traps out at dusk and in low traffic areas because they will be swarming with wasps.
 
ferider said:
Is it true that if you'd ever have to shoot a bear (god forbid), a conventional bullet would be better than a Hollow Point? Idle coffee thoughts .....
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That is what I have gathered. Hollow points will not penetrate deep enough due to expansion. When I'm in bear country a carry a .45 with ball. Take in mind that is black bear area.
 
ferider said:
Is it true that if you'd ever have to shoot a bear (god forbid), a conventional bullet would be better than a Hollow Point? Idle coffee thoughts .....
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Depends on the type of bear.

Black bears aren’t that much tougher than humans, and standard defensive rounds work fine against them.

For bigger bears, the theory is that an FMJ has better penetration to reach vital organs, where an expanding JHP might not.

One of the popular handgun choices for brown bears/grizzlies, is Hardcast flat nose lead. A G20 with full power 10mm 200gr Hardcast from Underwood seems to be a popular choice for brown bear defense (as are .44 Magnum and even more powerful revolvers like .454 Casull).

What THIS data shows, though, is that any pistol round can be effective, and works better than bear spray, for stopping bear attacks (vs deterring curious bears, which the silly study that people were using to claim that bear spray is more effective than a firearm, was based on).

https://www.ammoland.com/2024/05/bear-defense-with-handguns-update-20-more-cases-98-effective/

If you’ve never read the compiled list above, and only tried searching, “firearms vs bear spray”, you still only pull up links that are ALL biased by that STUPID study (yes, I’m going to call the Smith Herrero study STUPID. They specifically included incidents where a firearm was present, but not used- under the ‘ineffective’ category, but did not use that same bias for bear spray).

https://www.ammoland.com/2024/04/bi...cy-of-firearms-in-bear-attacks/#axzz8XZVEdy9s
 
abraves said:
That is what I have gathered. Hollow points will not penetrate deep enough due to expansion. When I'm in bear country a carry a .45 with ball. Take in mind that is black bear area.
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It is my understanding that the problem is twofold. One, you have to reach deep enough to hit a vital. And two, the bullet needs to travel straight enough to hit that vital because the trajectory of a bullet in tissue is seldom straight. Square nose do better than ball nose here.

Bear defense rounds are frequently a square nose hard cast solid lead. Usually pretty heavy because mass and momentum is what dictates penetration, not energy.

For example, one of the most popular self-defense rounds, the 9mm hst, has been found to penetrate deeper and more reliably with the standard loading rather than the plus p. The faster you push a round, sometimes the more shallow the penetration. This is for higher velocity rounds, slow stuff like the .45, the plus p would make more sense.

Bear rounds tend to be the heaviest thing you can push out of your firearm.

I have seen the claim that a headshot on a bear will frequently deflect off of the thick skull. I haven't tried it myself. Conventional wisdom is to aim for the heart box,

even though it's not an instant drop. You're going to want penetration measured in feet, not inches.

If I had a choice between my self defense round and a standard ball nose and I was carrying .45, I would go for the ball nose when dealing with bear.

If that was my only firearm I would get some Buffalo Bore ammo for it.

Since that's not my only firearm I would carry a G40 10 mm or a 44 Magnum
 
Nathan the Machinist said:
For example, one of the most popular self-defense rounds, the 9mm hst, has been found to penetrate deeper and more reliably with the standard loading rather than the plus p. The faster you push a round, sometimes the more shallow the penetration.
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Just to clarify,

For expanding rounds; yes. Typically, higher velocities cause the rounds to expand rapidly, which tends to decrease penetration.

For non-expanding rounds, like FMJ or Hardcast lead, higher velocities don’t reduce penetration.

One of the interesting tests, was using HST bullets loaded for full power 10mm (vs the downloaded/lightly loaded factory 10mm HST). Testing in ballistics gel showed that the bullet isn’t constructed for those higher velocities.

As the round expanded violently at the higher velocities, the petals either folded back (reducing their effectiveness), or broke off.

Interestingly, videos of ballistics gel testing of Underwood’s full power 10mm XTP loads, showed that those older design bullets performed better. The older design bullets typically don’t expand as well as the newer design HST, at lower velocities, but at the higher velocities of full power 10mm loadings, they expand better (similar to newer JHPs at lower velocities), while holding together and penetrating quite well.
Nathan the Machinist said:
I have seen the claim that a headshot on a bear will frequently deflect off of the thick skull. I haven't tried it myself. Conventional wisdom is to aim for the heart box,
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This is one of those things where knowledge of the anatomy is important. Most people would instinctively aim between the eyes (or higher) for a headshot, which will very likely result in what you’ve mentioned, as a bear’s skull is both thick, and sloped at a steep angle.

When attempting a headshot at a bear facing the shooter, the advice is to shoot it up the nose, as that shot will reach the brain, both due to the location of the brain (lower than expected, compared to humans), and avoiding potential deflection.

In reality, especially with an attacking bear, the average person is simply going to be directing fire anywhere in the general direction of the bear 😅

*** if you happen to fall over while backpedaling and shooting, try not to shoot your own feet. This has actually happened in more than one bear attack incident.

Charging bears are scary fast
*** no injuries in the video. The camera was setup remotely on a tripod to capture the bear’s release. Grouchy bear attacked it anyway.
 
Thanks. Just ordered a couple of boxes of this:

i-hrQ2xzz-X2.jpg


That’s 255 gr. Hard Cast … Let’s see how accurate I can go …
 
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