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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 15, 2020)
PAGE LABEL Blue Mountain Eagle A10 Wednesday, January 15, 2020 WEDNESDAY January 15, 2020 SHOOTING THE BREEZE Next-level reloading tools or the first 20 years of I have a hand-crank Foster my reloading career, trimmer that I have had for I got by with just the years. When you’re shop- ping I recommend you take basics. A reloading press, beam scale and powder mea- a look at power trimmers. sure worked just fine. How- Trimming 100 pieces of ever, in the pursuit of better brass by hand gets old fast. accuracy, I began to acquire You will need to pick more tools to refine my up a case mouth chamfer- ing tool along with your reloading process. Here are trimmer. The trimmer will five tools that will raise the cut the case mouths square accuracy of your reloads to and often leave the next level. burrs around the The first new mouth. A chamfer- toy I picked up was ing tool will clean a digital caliper. A up the mouth of decent caliper runs the cases as well as about $20 and will impart a small bevel last forever. I thought to the mouth. This I would rarely use it, makes it easier to but as it turns out, I Rod seat flat-based bul- use it all the time. I Carpenter lets and decreases frequently check my the chances of scraping of cases for stretch and moni- tor my overall bullet length bullet jacket material when every time I reload. Thou- you seat it. I use a Lee hand sandths of an inch can make chamfering tool that costs a difference in accuracy so about $20. My remarks I am constantly checking about trimming by hand also to make sure everything is apply here. right. The last tool I recom- mend is a chronograph. I have mentioned in I’m not saying that reload- other articles that chang- ing bullet jump to the rifling ing manuals are lying liars that lie, but my velocities can really affect accuracy. have never matched theirs. A Because bullet tips can be good chronograph can help easily bent or deformed, you maximize your firearm’s even polymer tips, measur- ing the overall length of the potential by helping you bullet to determine jump is reach good velocities. It can very inaccurate. The most also help you avoid danger- ous overloads when veloc- accurate way to determine bullet jump is by measuring ities get to high. If you are off of the ogive (shoulder of trying to shoot long range, a velocity variation of only 30 bullet that engages rifling) feet per second can mess you to the base of the bullet. To up. A good chrony can help do that you need a bullet comparator. Hornady makes measure the consistency of your loads. a great one for about $40 There are a lot of tools that attaches to the jaws of out there, but with these a caliper. five, you can turn out qual- The third tool I recom- ity hand loads with the best mend is a case trimmer of of them. some kind. As cases are What reloading tool do repeatedly reloaded and you think is a must have? fired, they stretch. Over Share it with us at shootingth- time, they can become lon- ebreezebme@gmail.com. ger than the chamber and Rod Carpenter is a hus- can cause problems. A good band, father and hunting case trimmer can trim them fool. back to recommended spec. F Prairie City boys basketball head coach Bo Workman said the panthers need to stay hun- gry and play hard to keep the winning streak alive. Prairie City boys basketball team wins nine straight By Steven Mitchell Blue Mountain Eagle Contributed photo Columnist Rod Carpenter recommends five reloading tools to make high-quality hand loads. SPORTS SCHEDULE FRIDAY, JAN. 17 SATURDAY, JAN. 18 Grant Union wrestling @ Oregon Classic in Redmond, TBA Grant Union wrestling @ Oregon Classic in Redmond, TBA Prairie City basketball vs. Dayville/Monument, 6 p.m. Prairie City basketball vs. Ukiah/Long Creek, 2 p.m. Grant Union basketball @ Pilot Rock, 6 p.m. Dayville/Monument basketball @ Harper, 3 p.m. (MT) Ukiah/Long Creek basketball @ Four Rivers, 6 p.m. (MT) Grant Union basketball vs. Weston-McEwen, 4 p.m. Fresh off a 57-34 shel- lacking of Mitchell/Spray the week before, the Prairie City boys basketball team put on a show Friday for a packed gym, steamrolling over Echo 58-27. The Panthers have won nine straight games with an overall record of 9-1 head- ing into the latter half of the season. The Panthers jumped out ahead early. In his third game back, junior guard Jojari Field drained a 3-point basket and nailed a couple of field goals to get the offense in gear. The team never looked back. By halftime, the Panthers had a 57-28 lead and con- tinued the onslaught into the third period with 14 points. They put a lid on the game with 12 more points in the final quarter. The Panthers put together an offensive attack that saw three players score in double digits. Field led the team with 17 points, senior Cole Dieter had 16 points including a steal followed by a slam dunk and sophomore Marcus Judd picked up 12 points. Head coach Bo Workman said having Field back made the difference in the game. “He has been a huge help,” the coach said. “He’s quick, he shoots well and he plays good defense.” Midway through the sea- son and as the playoffs loom, the team cannot afford to be overconfident, Workman said. “We can’t come out and just think we are going to just win,” he said. Prairie City hosts Day- ville/Monument Friday at 7:30 p.m. SPORTS ROUNDUP Grant Union boys basketball team wins two more on the road The Grant Union boys bas- ketball team bagged its fourth straight win Saturday, taking- down Union 49-46. It was the Prospector’s ninth overall win and fourth straight win in league play. “It was a dog fight the whole game, and both teams played hard,” said Prospectors head coach RC Huerta. The team beat Heppner, 61-47, Friday. Midway through the season, Huerta said the team is going to ride this wave of momentum to the playoffs. The Prospectors will face Pilot Rock at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 17 at Pilot Rock High School. The Rockets have an overall record of 11-2 and are 1-2 in league play. Grant Union girls basketball beat Heppner by a point The Grant Union girls bas- ketball team pulled out a victory Friday, besting Heppner 31-30 in their third win of the season. “They came to play,” said Prospectors head coach Kristi Moore. Moore said sophomore Paige Gerry played a good physical game and great defense. Senior Tyler Blood played well offen- sively, Moore added. After Friday’s nail-biter, the Grant Union Wrestling team places first in Echo By Steven Mitchell Blue Mountain Eagle Riverside Duals At the Riverside Duals, Grant Union won four Grant Union won the Echo Tournament Jan. 11 matchups but lost to Hermiston, 57-24. Jack Strong, with 119.5 points. Damion Young and Drew Lusco won their matches Justin Hodge placed first in the 160 weight class and scored team points in the effort. and scored 28 points. Drew Lusco took The Prospectors beat Irrigon, 42-17. Jack first in his weight division and scored 13.5 Strong, Damian Young, Sam McCracken, points. Russell Hodge placed second and Damion Young, Tucker Carpenter, Quin- tin Halgarth and Drew Lusco won their scored 18 points. Frank Douglass placed matches. The team took down Weston-McE- second and scored 16 points. Dan Henry, wen, 42-36. Ezra Beam, Sam McCracken, Dylan Clark, Bob Henry, Riddick Hutchi- son, Isaac Koopman and Tucker Carpen- Damion Young and Drew Lusco won their ter scored team points to help Grant Union matches. Drew Lusco take first place. The team beat Pendleton, 36-24. Dylan For the girls, Samantha Floyd and Clark, Riddick Hutchison and Rylan Cox Abby Lusco placed first in their weight classes. won their matches. Amelia Hall, Ashley Henry, Sophie Brockway The Prospectors beat Riverview, 30-21. Damion, and Kristin Cantrell placed second. Sierra Tip- Young, Quinten Hallgarth and Tucker Carpenter ton and Fallen Bolman placed third. Ashleigh won their matches. Ostberg placed fourth. Kyllie Holden placed Next up, the Prospectors travel to Redmond Jan. fifth. 17 for the Oregon Classic. Prospectors (3-10, 1-3 league) lost to Union 48-28 Saturday. The Prospectors will play Pilot Rock at 6 p.m. Jan. 17 at Pilot Rock High School. Dayville/Monument boys basketball team picks up a win- The Dayville/Monument boys basketball team picked up a sec- ond win, beating Four Rivers 39-21 Friday. “My team played this week after coming off of a long break,” said Dayville/Monument head coach Jeff Schafer. Junior JT Hand, Schafer added, was vital on offense for the Tigers and played with a lot of energy and excitement. Schafer said offensive move- ment and teamwork are what he wants the team to work on as they move into the latter half of the season. “My boys do amazing things when they are working as a team and encouraging one another,” Schafer said. The Tigers (2-8) go on the road to face Prairie City (9-1) Jan. 17 at 7:30 p.m. Dayville/Monument girls basketball team wins big and ends four-game skid The Dayville/Monument girls basketball team ended their four-game losing streak, defeat- ing Four Rivers 44-26 Friday. The Tigers (3-7) play Prai- rie City Jan. 17 at 5 p.m. Coach Cheyenne Perkins could not be reached for comment. Ukiah/Long Creek boys basketball team wins sixth straight game The Ukiah/Long Creek boys basketball team won their sixth straight game Friday, defeat- ing Burnt River 86-23. The team faces Four Rivers Jan. 17 at 7:30 p.m. Coach TC Con- ner could not be reached for comment. Ukiah/Long Creek girls set to hit the road The Ukiah/Long Creek girls basketball team is set to go on the road in hopes to earn their first win of the season. The team will take on Four Rivers Jan. 17 at 6 p.m. and Prairie City Jan. 18 at 2 p.m. “They’ll both be competitive, tough games, but the team chem- istry has been great,” said head coach Amos Studtmann. Prairie City girls win at home The Prairie City girls basket- ball team has been playing with more intensity on defense, and it is paying off, according to head coach Bo Workman. The Panthers have won their last three games. The Panthers beat Imbler 47-29, Mitchell/ Spray 45-16 and Echo 49-37. “The whole team played with a lot more energy and held Echo to very few points, which is hard to do, because they (Echo) have a great offense,” Workman said. Prairie City hosts Dayville/ Monument Jan. 17. The girls tip off at 6 p.m., and the boys tip off at 7:30 p.m.
