Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

[MechanicMatt]

Couple things, 1st I awoke to 4* outside and a chilly 63* inside at 6am. Filled the stove up and got myself to work. Came home at 7* and thanks to the boss lady 76*. She goes through wood like crazy, but when she is at the helm of the stove, the house is always warm.

2nd, I was NEVER a fan of the plastic stocks till this year. I own a sweet pre 64 Model 70 in .30-06 and love that rifle, taken a handful of deer with it. It wear a old weathered wooden stock. This year due to some poor time management on my part I had to borrow my future BIL stainless steel and composite stocked M77. Hunted in some nasty weather on opening day with it and was rewarded for it with my first Bear. I can't say I would have gone out in that nasty stuff had I been carrying my Model 70 that day. Different rifles for different duties. I was lucky enough that for Christmas I became the new owner of the stainless M77.

 

[MechanicMatt]

Model 70 is on the right for comparison, the rifle on the left is my 6.5. Both nice rifles, but that stainless and plastic gun, it is my new foul weather friend....

 

[MechanicMatt]

Farmer Steve, thanks a lot pal! Now the boss lady and little ladies want another puppy!!

 

[woodchip rookie]

View attachment 621267 Couple things, 1st I awoke to 4* outside and a chilly 63* inside at 6am. Filled the stove up and got myself to work. Came home at 7* and thanks to the boss lady 76*. She goes through wood like crazy, but when she is at the helm of the stove, the house is always warm.

2nd, I was NEVER a fan of the plastic stocks till this year. I own a sweet pre 64 Model 70 in .30-06 and love that rifle, taken a handful of deer with it. It wear a old weathered wooden stock. This year due to some poor time management on my part I had to borrow my future BIL stainless steel and composite stocked M77. Hunted in some nasty weather on opening day with it and was rewarded for it with my first Bear. I can't say I would have gone out in that nasty stuff had I been carrying my Model 70 that day. Different rifles for different duties. I was lucky enough that for Christmas I became the new owner of the stainless M77.

In heavier recoiling guns I hate the plastic stocks but little guns like my 17HMR are great with a tupperware stock and SS action/barrel. I love that gun.

 

[dancan]

evening scroungers. cooler temps have me burnin the snob wood. (hickory and locust.) saving my spruce for a wienie roast this summer. View attachment 621239 [emoji23] stay warm guys and enjoy that scrounged wood you worked hard for.

I'll bring the beers !

 

[MechanicMatt]

Nomad Archer, I'm not sure how those stocks feel with the larger calibers. https://www.savagearms.com/firearms/model/BAStealthLH
Doesn't look to comfy, but the specs on it look pretty slick.
What's your take on the "scout" rifles??

Me, I think a model 94 carbine in 30-30 is the original "scout rifle".....

 

[dancan]

8 out there and still dropping with 20 to 37 mph wind gusts but it's 72 in the house on scrounged yellow birch and sugar maple with a couple of small sticks of red maple and white birch to stuff up the firebox [emoji16]
I'm convinced that the heat is much nicer from wood that one has put time and sweat into getting than the heat you'd get from turning up the thingy on the wall and listening to a burner fire up or watch that meter dial spin like one of those fidget spinners spinning like it was on Slick50 .
Luv me that scrounged wood.




P.s. I have spruce at the ready for when we pop out of this mini polar vortex.

 

[MechanicMatt]

The heat is always better off of wood that one makes himself. I often recognize splits that gave me troubles, I get a extra smile putting those sons a ******* into the stove...

 

[MustangMike]

The first time I really appreciated a synthetic stock was when I shot a friends 338 Win Mag at the range. The rifle was a fairly light weight Model 70, and being used to shooting my wood stock 300 Win Mag, I thought that lighter gun was going to punish me. But that fiberglass stock absorbed the recoil so well it almost felt like I was shooting a 243. I came very close to buying that gun from him, but he moved away before I pulled the trigger on that deal.

The fit and nice recoil pad on my Ruger Amer Rifle also results in a very pleasant to shoot gun.

After separating my shoulder while wrestling at college, shooting my 348 Winchester became very unpleasant. Before that, it never bothered me much.

 

[nomad_archer]

View attachment 621268 Model 70 is on the right for comparison, the rifle on the left is my 6.5. Both nice rifles, but that stainless and plastic gun, it is my new foul weather friend....

I count on fowl weather but I still hunt my wood stocked rifles. Clean them up and dry them out afterwards and you are good to go. One of many reasons I'm skipping the injection molded stocks is that I just dont like them and hence the pull to the chassis rifles with on piece machined stocks if thats what you want to call them. They are different and different is always good. I will be the first to admit that I would be looking at laminate wood stock replacements if I got a plastic synthetic stock rifle. Call me strange but wood stocked rifles seem to have a soul. The wood, and stratches in the finish tell the story. Maybe I'm an oddball. Unfortunately the options for a wood stocked rifle are shrinking every year.

 

[woodchip rookie]

The heat is always better off of wood that one makes himself. I often recognize splits that gave me troubles, I get a extra smile putting those sons a ******* into the stove...

Plenty of those here...

 

[woodchip rookie]

than the heat you'd get from turning up the thingy on the wall and listening to a burner fire up or watch that meter dial spin like one of those fidget spinners spinning like it was on Slick50

Columbia Gas has one of those big meter stations in my yard. Its fed from a 20" main 8 feet down. All the houses around me are fed from the meter station. It has regulators, round charts and valves all over it. On really cold nights like this it sounds like an F-16 idling in my side yard. Before I started my "energy audit" I was using $150/mo in gas and $150/mo in electric in the coldest months. Now my gas bill is $30/mo and the last electric bill was $19.

 

[Cowboy254]

Columbia Gas has one of those big meter stations in my yard. Its fed from a 20" main 8 feet down. All the houses around me are fed from the meter station. It has regulators, round charts and valves all over it. On really cold nights like this it sounds like an F-16 idling in my side yard. Before I started my "energy audit" I was using $150/mo in gas and $150/mo in electric in the coldest months. Now my gas bill is $30/mo and the last electric bill was $19.

How much is that new saw setting you back again? Free wood gets expensive after a while...with the new trailer and the new truck to haul it and the log jack and the fiskars and all the other stuff. And once the CAD kicks in....well you may as well not have started, since...



and CAD gets expensive as Cowgirl is starting to find out.

But if you just used electricity or gas, you couldn't post pics of your wood on the interweb. Well not here at least .

 

[LondonNeil]

Agree, nothing like scrounged wood warmth! Was a bitter day yesterday in London, just above zero, snow flurries but wet (as always, humidity must have been about 100%) and windy. With a thick frost forming in the evening I was grinning ear to ear feeling very cosy with the two ickle stoves just idling. I'd had a furrowed brow briefly at 5pm as I hadn't lit the second stove soon enough and the gas boiler kicked in, bit it only lasted 10-20 minutes yet temps continued to climb for the next 6 hours, thanks to wood heat, and I was happy.

 

[LondonNeil]

As for cost, there is definitely an investment in wood, the stove, the install, the flue liner, the saw or saws, the axe or axes, the ppe... Based on my first winter of wood heat (last year). I'd pay back in 6-7years. I'm aiming to up that but also have the second stove and flue etc to pay for now, but if I include the wood my parents are burning then 5 years to pay back

 

[farmer steve]

I'll bring the beers !

bring my favorite Canuckistan brew.

EDIT: translation for you non-french speakers. the end of the world

 

[Conquistador3]

As for cost, there is definitely an investment in wood, the stove, the install, the flue liner, the saw or saws, the axe or axes, the ppe... Based on my first winter of wood heat (last year). I'd pay back in 6-7years. I'm aiming to up that but also have the second stove and flue etc to pay for now, but if I include the wood my parents are burning then 5 years to pay back

Factor in the inevitable retail NG price hikes and you'll pay it back a year, a year and a half earlier than expected.
The beauty of firewood is it can be hoarded at the most convenient time and, if properly stored, will last years. NG by contrast cannot be hoarded. My grandfather had an LNG tank on the farm he filled when prices were low but that thing was a nightmare as far as maintenance and certifications went and I can only imagine things got much worse in the meantime. That's the reason he mostly used firewood.

 

[LondonNeil]

Yes I agree, 10% price increase every couple of years seems to be the norm for mains gas, that soon mounts up after 5-6 years.

 

[rarefish383]

Alright we are talking about guns again. I picked out my next rifle. I'm giving one of these chassis rifles in 6.5 Creedmoor a try.

https://www.savagearms.com/firearms/model/BAStealthLH

Mike what do you think? I'm not worried about weight since this rifle is just slightly heavier than my 300 mag that I carry with out issue.

You sure that's a Savage, don't look like mine? Unless I run across another pre WWI 1899, my next Savage will be a 220 slug gun. The four 99's I took hunting this year were, left to right, 1950 99R in 250-3000 Savage with 2-7 Redfield, 1912 1899H light weight in Savage 22HiPower with Malcolm 3X, a little over 6 pounds, 1950 99R in 300 Savage with 3.5X10 Leupold, 1908 1899B in 303 Savage with 26" octagon barrel weighs 8 pounds. I love my Savages. I picked up a first year model 1919 NRA Match rifle 22 bolt action. The first 5 shots I fired out of it, with factory peep, punched one hole. Last year I bought a vintage Fecker 10X taget scope for it to see if I can tighten that group up a little. The 1919 NRA does have an adjustable trigger, but nothing like the accu trigger, Joe.

 

[nomad_archer]

You sure that's a Savage, don't look like mine? Unless I run across another pre WWI 1899, my next Savage will be a 220 slug gun. The four 99's I took hunting this year were, left to right, 1950 99R in 250-3000 Savage with 2-7 Redfield, 1912 1899H light weight in Savage 22HiPower with Malcolm 3X, a little over 6 pounds, 1950 99R in 300 Savage with 3.5X10 Leupold, 1908 1899B in 303 Savage with 26" octagon barrel weighs 8 pounds. I love my Savages. I picked up a first year model 1919 NRA Match rifle 22 bolt action. The first 5 shots I fired out of it, with factory peep, punched one hole. Last year I bought a vintage Fecker 10X taget scope for it to see if I can tighten that group up a little. The 1919 NRA does have an adjustable trigger, but nothing like the accu trigger, Joe.

Nice collection. It's a savage 10ba short action and barrell. The stock isn't made by savage. I really do like the modern savage rifles out of the box they shoot better than I can. I will be adding a savage 22lr this year as well.