Out for some hog hunting late this afternoon, I sprayed the lower and BCG of my stock DPMS LR-308 16" with Break-Free and dropped the first round of Rem factory match 168SMK in the chamber, as I'm used to doing from highpower slowfire stages, only this time it was to save the projectile from chambering scratches. Having slamfired once, also at a match, by dropping the bolt with the catch, I rode the CH halfway down, let it go, and mashed the FA. Then I push-pulled the steel factory mag with 18 rounds and set out.
Didn't see any hogs, but rounded the corner from a trail to a soybean field, and good thing I have at least enough woods sense to watch the ground directly in front of me almost constantly when moving, because just out of my FOV I heard a momentary "zzt" and looked up to see one of our friendly local timber rattlesnakes all folded up and ready to rock. Very lucky it was out of strike range, maybe ten feet away. This is the first time I've seen one in the wild, not counting the eight zillion roadkills all over the place.
I didn't know what it meant to do, and <span style="font-style: italic">Crotalus horridus</span> is not a protected species, so I raised from low ready to firing stance. It was too close for the Bushnell 3200 10x to focus, but that means I'm so close I can't miss with a doubletap, right? The first shot seemed to hit, but the second shot didn't happen, just mash mash mash on the trigger. Hummm ... a stoppage? Inconceivable--the only other time this rifle did that was two years ago when it wasn't well lubed. Looks like two rounds are visible through the ejection port. Oh yeah, angry venomous snake in unknown condition is still there.
Somehow I half-remembered stoppage reduction from Larry Vickers' AR class five years before. Quit pumping the CH, latch the bolt open to unstress whatever's stuck, rip out the mag, and now I can brush out the fired case and live round. Push-pull the mag, drop the bolt, and now we're back in business.
How's that snake doing? Thought I saw a piece fly off, or blood or something, from the first round, and it's sitting there motionless. I tossed a pine cone at it. Absolutely no reaction. I killed it so dead it's already rigor mortised! Good thing I also have at least enough sense to stay out of reach of any snake whose head is still attached, because even as I watched, it gradually tensed up. Oh no, it's on like Donkey Kong.
One shot, two shot, it uncoiled and started to crawl away. I can't see squat through the scope and my perfectly good match bullets are splashing all around the fast disappearing rattler. Now I know what target fixation feels like. DIE STUPID SNAKE DIE!!!! as I almost emptied the mag. Finally it stopped under some bottom leaves and rattled at me, far enough away to see it through the scope. One more shot. No more rattling. HAAAAAAA!!!! but then it slipped away untouched, with one last rattle.
17 * $2 per round means $34 wasted for no effect. And only two rounds to get home with. And now I thought, can I ever trust my rifle again? It jammed at a bad time. Oh yeah, now I have to walk through 200 yards of thigh-high soybeans with no telling how many other rattlers, copperheads, or stray cottonmouths would want to take a bite out of humanity. This is all in North Carolina, which has the highest snakebite rate in the nation.
(Do I have snake boots, you ask? sure! back at the house ... it's too much trouble to squeeze into those things, won't need 'em today anyway, it's only a short walk.)
Well, I waded through the soybeans without further incident, wherein it occurred to me that instead of a battle rifle with a 10x scope, a better snake shooter would be a Colt Agent .38 snub revolver. Like the one I had in my pocket the whole time. Duh.
Finally close to the house, and just about to step from the dirt road to the lawn when what should I see but ANOTHER stupid snake almost at my foot, this one a baby rattler, or it sure looked like one, big-headed, gray with black marks, consistent with a canebrake. This time you better believe the .38 came out, and six rounds later, one headless little snake was no longer a threat. Only when I put it in a ziploc and compared it to the pictures of snakes from around here, it had a long whippy tail, not a button, and the pattern just didn't match up with any pit viper. Turned out to be a baby black racer. So sue me.
Thinking again about whether I can trust my DPMS now, it occurred to me that only the first round failed to eject, or maybe to extract fully. And that was the one I hand-chambered. When I reduced the stoppage and chambered one from the mag, the next 15 shots fed perfectly. Coincidence? I think not.
Possible takeaways:
Don't hand-chamber rounds. Just set aside any acratched-up ones for practice.
Stoppage reduction drills are unglamorous and unpopular, but make time for them anyway.
If the target is close and your rifle stops banging unexpectedly, let it hang and transition to pistol rather than trying to unfook the rifle--another extremely basic item from LV's classes that I hadn't practiced in a long time.
10x fixed scopes, at least without illuminated reticles that you might could train to use like the old Armson OEG, are a no-go close in. Some of us just have to learn that in real life.
Wear snake boots. Pit viper venom is rarely fatal but will kill a lot of tissue, and I'm allergic to pain.
Carry a cell phone out in the woods. Had I been bitten, it would have taken me 15 minutes to get to my car, and even though it goes 190mph and the hospital is only 12 miles away, by then most likely I would have only one good leg, and I need two to work the clutch. Calling 911 and telling the EMTs I'll be at the edge of the soybean field in a few minutes, on a dirt road where an ambulance can go, would be a better idea.
Watch the ground and don't assume snakes will always run away, or only lurk under cover. This one was out in the open, maybe catching some sun, and showed no sign of retreating. Until the crazy giant redneck started pelting its ground with lead, that is.
Really, with some time to think, I should have just kept my distance and taken pictures and let the snake alone. It's their world, we just live in it.
Didn't see any hogs, but rounded the corner from a trail to a soybean field, and good thing I have at least enough woods sense to watch the ground directly in front of me almost constantly when moving, because just out of my FOV I heard a momentary "zzt" and looked up to see one of our friendly local timber rattlesnakes all folded up and ready to rock. Very lucky it was out of strike range, maybe ten feet away. This is the first time I've seen one in the wild, not counting the eight zillion roadkills all over the place.
I didn't know what it meant to do, and <span style="font-style: italic">Crotalus horridus</span> is not a protected species, so I raised from low ready to firing stance. It was too close for the Bushnell 3200 10x to focus, but that means I'm so close I can't miss with a doubletap, right? The first shot seemed to hit, but the second shot didn't happen, just mash mash mash on the trigger. Hummm ... a stoppage? Inconceivable--the only other time this rifle did that was two years ago when it wasn't well lubed. Looks like two rounds are visible through the ejection port. Oh yeah, angry venomous snake in unknown condition is still there.
Somehow I half-remembered stoppage reduction from Larry Vickers' AR class five years before. Quit pumping the CH, latch the bolt open to unstress whatever's stuck, rip out the mag, and now I can brush out the fired case and live round. Push-pull the mag, drop the bolt, and now we're back in business.
How's that snake doing? Thought I saw a piece fly off, or blood or something, from the first round, and it's sitting there motionless. I tossed a pine cone at it. Absolutely no reaction. I killed it so dead it's already rigor mortised! Good thing I also have at least enough sense to stay out of reach of any snake whose head is still attached, because even as I watched, it gradually tensed up. Oh no, it's on like Donkey Kong.
One shot, two shot, it uncoiled and started to crawl away. I can't see squat through the scope and my perfectly good match bullets are splashing all around the fast disappearing rattler. Now I know what target fixation feels like. DIE STUPID SNAKE DIE!!!! as I almost emptied the mag. Finally it stopped under some bottom leaves and rattled at me, far enough away to see it through the scope. One more shot. No more rattling. HAAAAAAA!!!! but then it slipped away untouched, with one last rattle.
17 * $2 per round means $34 wasted for no effect. And only two rounds to get home with. And now I thought, can I ever trust my rifle again? It jammed at a bad time. Oh yeah, now I have to walk through 200 yards of thigh-high soybeans with no telling how many other rattlers, copperheads, or stray cottonmouths would want to take a bite out of humanity. This is all in North Carolina, which has the highest snakebite rate in the nation.
(Do I have snake boots, you ask? sure! back at the house ... it's too much trouble to squeeze into those things, won't need 'em today anyway, it's only a short walk.)
Well, I waded through the soybeans without further incident, wherein it occurred to me that instead of a battle rifle with a 10x scope, a better snake shooter would be a Colt Agent .38 snub revolver. Like the one I had in my pocket the whole time. Duh.
Finally close to the house, and just about to step from the dirt road to the lawn when what should I see but ANOTHER stupid snake almost at my foot, this one a baby rattler, or it sure looked like one, big-headed, gray with black marks, consistent with a canebrake. This time you better believe the .38 came out, and six rounds later, one headless little snake was no longer a threat. Only when I put it in a ziploc and compared it to the pictures of snakes from around here, it had a long whippy tail, not a button, and the pattern just didn't match up with any pit viper. Turned out to be a baby black racer. So sue me.
Thinking again about whether I can trust my DPMS now, it occurred to me that only the first round failed to eject, or maybe to extract fully. And that was the one I hand-chambered. When I reduced the stoppage and chambered one from the mag, the next 15 shots fed perfectly. Coincidence? I think not.
Possible takeaways:
Don't hand-chamber rounds. Just set aside any acratched-up ones for practice.
Stoppage reduction drills are unglamorous and unpopular, but make time for them anyway.
If the target is close and your rifle stops banging unexpectedly, let it hang and transition to pistol rather than trying to unfook the rifle--another extremely basic item from LV's classes that I hadn't practiced in a long time.
10x fixed scopes, at least without illuminated reticles that you might could train to use like the old Armson OEG, are a no-go close in. Some of us just have to learn that in real life.
Wear snake boots. Pit viper venom is rarely fatal but will kill a lot of tissue, and I'm allergic to pain.
Carry a cell phone out in the woods. Had I been bitten, it would have taken me 15 minutes to get to my car, and even though it goes 190mph and the hospital is only 12 miles away, by then most likely I would have only one good leg, and I need two to work the clutch. Calling 911 and telling the EMTs I'll be at the edge of the soybean field in a few minutes, on a dirt road where an ambulance can go, would be a better idea.
Watch the ground and don't assume snakes will always run away, or only lurk under cover. This one was out in the open, maybe catching some sun, and showed no sign of retreating. Until the crazy giant redneck started pelting its ground with lead, that is.
Really, with some time to think, I should have just kept my distance and taken pictures and let the snake alone. It's their world, we just live in it.
