Winter Camping trip with some snow-assisted shelter stuff.

Looks like a great trip. I love that rifle plenty of bark and bite for sure. That set-up reminds me of the BM-59 I didn't buy when I had the chance.

In winter I never trust a ground pad. I always pile up natural insulation under my shelter as much as possible and use the ground pad to top it off for an extra measure of comfort. The last time I slept out in 18 degree weather we piled about six inches of dried ferns and it worked very well. Mac
 
misanthropist-not to steal your thread but I'm curious. The M-14 fires 7.62 x 54 ammo correct? I can see it has the same rear sight as a 30 caliber carbine, does it also have the same bolt and action as the 30 caliber?


Sort of back on topic... that stove looks like it would fill with ash pretty quick, how do you empty it? Do you just pick it up with gloves and dump it or do you have a trowel or something to scoop the ashes out?

David
 
Great pics! Thanks for sharing those. I like how you used the snow to insulate the tarp set up!


misanthropist said:
I am 11 inches tall so this is a very small camp.

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I knew I wasn't the shortest guy on this site! Told ya Jake!

;)
 
Awesome pics Misanthropist! Looks like you had a great time rocking it solo. I've never camped in the snow yet, it's on the list, but you make me want to get out and do it that much sooner :thumbup: I dig your stove and "winter essentials" too. :)
 
Cool man, glad you guys are enjoying these!

I'll say one thing for winter camping...when I wasn't shooting or next to a river, it was DEAD quiet. Just awesome. Saw a lot of coyotes but didn't hear any (which I was a little disappointed about...love hearing them howl.)

Thanks for tracking down that thread, stingray!

Pict, the BM59...I love those. Really pieces of m14 abstract artwork to me! You know I agree with you about piling up other insulation for sure and in a survival situation I would do that if I could, but up here right now that would mean cutting a lot of branches off a lot of living trees...no doubt the trees would survive that without a problem but I try to avoid doing damage when I can, especially up there where the growth can be pretty slow from the long winters and dry climate.

Fonly GET yourself an M14!!! Then get over to the "Battle Rifles" section of CGN...it's just mandatory man!

Echo the M14 here will do either 7.62x51mm NATO or commercial .308 Winchester. Occasionally I have seen ones that would only do the x51 because of headspace issues, and I have seen match guns that would only do .308 because they had tightened the headspace down so much for accuracy.

Personally I don't need that last 3% of accuracy so I leave the headspace moderately loose, just to make the gun less finnicky about ammo. The design is very similar to the .30 carbine M1 for sure although I believe the trigger system is quite different...I am less informed about the M1 Carbines than the M14s but you can see a lot of similarities in the design, although I don't think very much would be interchangeable on account of the much longer cartridge in the m14.

As far as ash in the stove...actually this was not a problem at all. I could run it for at least 12 hours without emptying it and probably more, as it was less than a 1/4 full every morning. I emptied it only because I was packing it around with me but I think you could definitely do 2-3 days and not worry about it much. To be honest I think a lot of the ash just gets pulled out the top of the chimney. That little fire box gets pretty hot and seems to reduce the ash to a pretty fine state pretty fast.

I don't know why I made the 11 inches tall joke? I guess I was just thinking about how I put myself in for scale...and then how that's not a very good reference unless you know me in person! But I guess you can all just call me "Ken" from now on.

Hey RK the winter is the best time! Nobody else out there - I didn't see a soul the whole trip - and no bugs either!

Anyway sure glad you guys are enjoying these, I had a great time while I was taking them.
 
I did, thank you. I was really spectacular...I have a pair of 8.5x56mm Nikon Monarch binoculars. Viewing the moon through them was quite beautiful...very nearly full and the sky was still, clear and very dry. There were sharp shadows on the ground at all times just from the moon. It was extremely nice out there.
 
Man I had no desire to camp in he snow until I joined this site. I guess I will have to head north next winter.
 
The attempted pics of stove fire are definitely art! What's the temp rating on your sleeping bag? Synth or down? What layers were you wearing?
 
Looks F'ing cold! Great pics and your camp looks awesome though, and that stove must be a lifesaver.
 
Misanthropist-- In reference to your hiking pole and tarp...

I turn my hiking pole upside down, and put the tip through the tarp grommet. It keeps the pole from slipping sideways and reduces stress on the tarp. Maybe there's a reason I shouldn't be doing it this way, but so far, it's works.
 
Kat013 said:
The attempted pics of stove fire are definitely art! What's the temp rating on your sleeping bag? Synth or down? What layers were you wearing?
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Good questions! You must do this sort of thing yourself!

Okay, answers:

1. It's a down sleeping bag from MEC (roughly the Canadian equivalent to REI) called the Raven. Temperature rating is -12c which works out to about 10 degrees farenheit. Here is a link to the specific bag:

http://www.mec.ca/Products/product_...4374302701483&PRODUCT<>prd_id=845524442279987

That's about the minimum you'd want to have on this trip...overnight temps were actually a little lower than this, maybe -15c or 5 farenheit. But one upside to the MEC bags...their ratings are accurate, unlike most manufacturers. A -12 bag is fine at -12.

Layers I was wearing were as follows:

Helly Hansen Polypro heavyweight long underwear all the time.

MEC Trek fleece...that's the black fleece I have on in the sideways picture.

Old down vest - I occasionally wore this. I mostly took it to use as a pillow because it's comfy, but it was also pretty nice to have on overtop of the Hellys when I was getting in and out of the tent a bit.

Arcteryx Stinger Jacket...man, these are not cheap. In the picture where I'm crouching next to the tarp, I have this on and during the day I would always be wearing it, unless I got too hot skiing. These are just not cheap to buy, not at all...but if you have the money Arcteryx is the gear to own. It is the go-to stuff for the DEV group, for instance. It's the gear.

Anyway so for relaxing I'd be wearing the Hellys, a pair of Columbia titanium ski pants, the trek fleece and the Arcteryx.

Skiing I'd have the Hellys, the pants with all the zips open, and the Arcteryx with the vents open unless I was going uphill in the sun, in which case I'd take off the jacket.

Occasionally at night I substituted the vest for the fleece.

Oh and the hat...you will notice I am often wearing a green tuque. That was knitted for me from Lopi wool by my fabulous assistant Erin who always finds ways to improve my life.
 
tknife...it only looks cold! Overnight I don't think it ever got below 0 farenheit.

Scott - interesting idea! I will definitely remember that next time I need to do a hasty setup, I think that is a very good system. I wish I thought of it...so in the future when I am not on the internet and no one can check up on my I'm going to tell everyone I've always done it that way.

Thanks!
 
Great pics! Love the shelter set up. Next time try the stew with some shallots and maybe a dried New Mexico pepper for more flavor and a packet or two of herbox beef will add a little more flavor lol. So...how do you like the range on that SOCOM? As good as the original full size?
 
Those are complicated food words and I think I will choose to skip over them...when I lived by myself I used to eat a 1.5 pound chunk of steak for dinner every night with no sauce or other foods. I am just not a food guy! This was by far the most complicated food I ever made. Unless you count pancakes, which I am very particular about.

Anyway the rifle is actually a scout-length barrel - 18.6" to be exact; we get them cheap up here and cut them down and recrown just slightly longer than the minimum length for a non-restricted rifle.

I like this length a lot because it gives up almost nothing in velocity to the 22" barrel. In fact I believe I am only losing about 75 fps total with most ammo, although some handloads are more like 125 fps slower.

Going down to the 16" SOCOM takes a lot of speed off the bullet - those two inches of barrel will cost you a good 300 fps!

Additionally the Springfield SOCOMs are a little vague on accuracy. Unless you clamp them down in a TROY or something they seem to average around 4-5 moa which is a good fun gun...but a little sloppy IMO.

But this thing is great! I set the front sight assembly back on the barrel a little bit, and while the muzzle flash is now ridiculous at dawn and dusk, the whole thing is only 3/4 of an inch longer than a SOCOM in the same stock, only without the accuracy and ballistics issues. I have not formally grouped it at any point but my seat-of-the-pants accuracy meter puts it under 2moa for sure...feels like a maybe 1.25-1.5 moa gun.

On this particular one I have a unitized gas system, a one-piece round spring guide, GI sights, and a staked op rod guide. Oh, and a shimmed and peened gas cylinder lock.

That is sort of my standard build... I have three rifles like that right now. Total cost including the rifle and taxes and shipping and everything: $600 a pop! So at those prices you can see why they are popular up here.
 
misanthropist said:
Those are complicated food words and I think I will choose to skip over them...when I lived by myself I used to eat a 1.5 pound chunk of steak for dinner every night with no sauce or other foods. I am just not a food guy! This was by far the most complicated food I ever made. Unless you count pancakes, which I am very particular about.

Anyway the rifle is actually a scout-length barrel - 18.6" to be exact; we get them cheap up here and cut them down and recrown just slightly longer than the minimum length for a non-restricted rifle.

I like this length a lot because it gives up almost nothing in velocity to the 22" barrel. In fact I believe I am only losing about 75 fps total with most ammo, although some handloads are more like 125 fps slower.

Going down to the 16" SOCOM takes a lot of speed off the bullet - those two inches of barrel will cost you a good 300 fps!

Additionally the Springfield SOCOMs are a little vague on accuracy. Unless you clamp them down in a TROY or something they seem to average around 4-5 moa which is a good fun gun...but a little sloppy IMO.

But this thing is great! I set the front sight assembly back on the barrel a little bit, and while the muzzle flash is now ridiculous at dawn and dusk, the whole thing is only 3/4 of an inch longer than a SOCOM in the same stock, only without the accuracy and ballistics issues. I have not formally grouped it at any point but my seat-of-the-pants accuracy meter puts it under 2moa for sure...feels like a maybe 1.25-1.5 moa gun.

On this particular one I have a unitized gas system, a one-piece round spring guide, GI sights, and a staked op rod guide. Oh, and a shimmed and peened gas cylinder lock.

That is sort of my standard build... I have three rifles like that right now. Total cost including the rifle and taxes and shipping and everything: $600 a pop! So at those prices you can see why they are popular up here.
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Jeeeeeeez....I love the M-1A/M-14 design, awesome rifle but down here the cheapest I found one was twice that...for a stock version!
 
misanthropist said:
Those are complicated food words and I think I will choose to skip over them...when I lived by myself I used to eat a 1.5 pound chunk of steak for dinner every night with no sauce or other foods. I am just not a food guy! This was by far the most complicated food I ever made. Unless you count pancakes, which I am very particular about.
Click to expand...

Here I am the cook...in camp as a kid I used to help my dad....at some point I took over.
 
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