Homestead mailing list

[Clansgian AT wmconnect.com]

> Before you whine that you don't really want to kill anything but just 
> scare it away, get over it. Coyotes, coons, possums and other 
> chicken-loving critters will scare only until they get hungry again. 
> Killing is the only certain deterrent.

It is of paramount importance to remember this.  Some large and more 
intelligent animals (like bears) can be taught to go elsewhere.  Chicken 
thieving 
animals cannot.  The deterrent of scaring them with a gun is only good until 
the 
last report dies away.  If they are hungry, and they always are, they will be 
back.  Once you've been provoked into picking up the shooting iron, better to 
kill them and be done with it.   No good ever comes of trying to scare 
anything 
or anyone with a gun.  In the case of intruders, it is foolish to announce, 
"I have a gun and I know how to use it!"  Might as well say, "It's in my 
right 
hand and I'm coming around the corner just now with the gun extened (also 
foolish) so you can take it away from me."  Tell the intruder to leave, just 
that. 
 When the intruder doesn't and you fear for your safety, sthe first thing he 
should know about you having a gun is when you shoot him with it.  It may 
sound like a grim business, but .... it's a grim business.

----------------------------------

About shotgun rounds, keep in mind that as far as gauge (410 is not a gauge 
but rather a bore size), the number respresents the fraction of a pound the 
load of pellets would weigh on average.  That is, a 12 gauge generally uses a 
1 
1/8 ounce load of pellets so there are 12 to a pound, a 16 gauge generally 
uses 
a 1 ounce load.  If you want to get really heathen there are also 10 and 8 
gauge shotguns.  Impractical, of course, mainly because of the scarcity and 
price of the ammo.

A fully loaded #00 would be 12 pellets each the size of a .357 slug and each 
traveling at the muzzle the speed of a .357 round.   Not to be considered 
lightly, at certain ranges it is pretty much like firing 12   .357's at the 
target 
at the same time.

(By the bye, I join the chorus of highly recommending a .357 for personal 
defense, but that's another story).

There are at least two types of slugs available and each of those has several 
variations:  

A rifled slug has grooves in the elongated (bullet shaped) slug which makes 
it twist just a little as it leaves the muzzle giving it greater range and 
flatness of trajectory.  A variation of this is the sabotted slug.  The slug 
sits 
in a plastic shoe (sabot) which expands to close off the bore as the slug 
accelerates.

The punkin' ball.  It is a round ball which might or might not be patched 
and/or lubricated.  It has huge stopping power but loses velocity (and 
therefore 
power) after a short distance making it marginally safer for your neighbors.  
If you are shooting at something more than about 70 feet away, you are most 
likely to miss.

On the higest cabinet (out of children reach, although they are all about old 
enough to shoot now) are lined up three each of #8 target load, #7 1/2 game 
load, #4, #00, and rifled slugs.  The shotgun, of course, is kept unloaded.  
When a call to arms comes, the gunsman at a glance can grab whichever ammo is 
indicated.  Most often more than one.  When we grab the game loads to get 
some 
squirrels for supper, we often stuff a #00 and a rifled slug into the pocket 
as 
well in case of a deer or stray dog.

This arrangement works fine since on a pump shotgun's magazine it's first 
in/first out.  If you need the #00 in the chamber, just slip it in the 
magazine 
and rack the pump, it's ready to go.

Our general rule is:  When you think you need the gun, stop and think again 
if there isn't another way to deal with the situation without firearms.