THE TECHNOID GEARS UP FOR WINTER... One of the joys of living
in Travelers Territory is that spring looks so good after our winters. Until
that first robin, we might as well gear up for the cold. Your guru of gear
is more than happy to offer you some priceless pearls of pedantic pedagogy
relating to winter shooting. (A little of the Technoid's prodigious supply of
hot air is almost welcome at this time of year. -Ed.)

1) Winter clothing: When you shoot English sporting in winter wear
your shooting vest over a sweater and turtleneck, but under a heavy coat.
When it is your turn to shoot, take off the big coat for the minute or so that
shooting will take and then put it back on until the next station. This does
not avoid swaddling yourself like the Michelin Man for 5 Stand, trap or
skeet, but it will let you glide through the next two or three Travelers
monthly matches of English sporting in relative comfort.

For your feet, no one has yet found anything better than the felt lined,
rubber bottomed leather topped "pacs". The key to warm feet in winter is
an extra felt innersole under the foot in addition to the standard felt liner.

Gloves are always a compromise. If they are warm, they are too bulky
for shooting. If they are not too bulky, they are not warm enough. 10-X
brand has some nice Thinsulite/Goretex shooting gloves in green with tan
leather palms. Not cheap (Dunn's catalog), but they are a good
compromise.

You also might consider a small change in your ear protection for
winter. Ear muffs, rather than ear plugs, can make a world of difference
if there is a bit of a wind chill.

Lastly, but perhaps most important. Every survival manual will tell
you that a large percentage of your body heat escapes from your head. A
cap, especially one of the fashionable Connecticut Travelers hats, can make
all the difference between being kool and cool. Also, be aware that the
winter sun is much lower in the sky. The brim on that cap could help you
avoid a little unwelcome dazzle.

2) Reloading in winter: You may want to change some of your
reloading components in winter, especially the plastic wad. Many reloaders
use off brand "clone" wads for economy. In warm weather they can work
fine, but in the cold they often fail to seal properly and make your shells
produce impolite sounds. The big arms companies supply their injection
molding contractors with virgin polyethylene of a known chemical
composition. The cut price brands use the cheaper recycled polyethylene
of dubious parentage. It often can produce a more brittle wad that fails to
seal in the cold. It depends on what the density of the polyethylene in that
batch of recycled mix happens to be. Pay a little extra and buy brand name
wads for winter.

Also in winter, you might try adding another spoonful or two of
powder. Cold weather slows shells down a bit. Three dram shells often
have 2 3/4 dram performance in the cold. Switching to a hotter primer,
like the Federal, is also often a good idea, but check the book. All
powders become a bit harder to ignite when cold, especially the popular
Ball process powders manufactured by Winchester.

For those of you who prefer factory shells, as well as you reloaders,
consider moving up from #8 to #7 1/2 shot at the early 30s yardage, rather
than usual 35 plus yards. Winters can be windier, cold shells lose velocity
and frozen targets are definitely harder to break. It is a guarantee that
those targets have been sitting outside all night and they are hard as rocks.

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