Pond Skating Conditions in Litchfield County

As of 1-25-2010, there is plenty of ice on the lakes and ponds in Litchfield County, Connecticut.  The issue for ice skating is that there is also a layer of snow on top of the ice.

The ice in Hartford County is much clearer and smother.  However, the problem is finding a place that allows skating, and finding a place where one can trust the ice.

Best of luck. 

Ice Skating at Plainville Middle School

In a previous post I mentioned pond skating at the Plainville Middle School in Plainville, CT.  This past weekend, I tried skating there.  The conditions were poor.  There was a layer of snow-ice chopped up on the top of the man-made pond.  In order to improve conditions there needs to be either a rain followed the next day by below freezing conditions, or the town of Plainville to put a layer of fresh water on the pond.  Neither of which has happened at last check.

If you wish to go skating at the Plainville Middle School, I suggest doing a drive-by to check ice conditions before making the effort to skate at this location.

Update on CVA Wolf Muzzleloader

I wanted to clarify my last post on the CVA Wolf Muzzleloader.

First, The scope mount that comes with the kit from Cabela's does not work with the Cabela's Powderhorn scope that comes with the kit.  The scope mounts will not allow the scope to clear the iron sights.  Even if you remove the upper part of the iron sights, the base still interferes with the scope.  If you buy a CVA Wolf muzzleloader kit (rifle, scope, scope mounts all together) from Cabela's you should expect a trip to a store to buy new scope mounts that work.  Cabela's was not able to fix the problem over the phone.  They just kept sending non-working scope mounts, and even the counter people at the Cabela's store I visited were not helpful.  You're on your own with this one.  Just to recap, I ended up buying "see-through" scope mounts that sit considerably higher, providing clearance for the iron sights.

Secondly, in my previous post I mentioned that my ramrod broke before I completed sighting in the rifle.  Cabela's did send me a replacement ramrod free-of-charge in time for the weekend hunt.  However, I missed the deer I shot at during that hunt.  It was maybe a 50 yard shot, free-hand (i.e. no rest for the gun), with some brush.  Still, I thought it was a shot that I should make.  Perhaps the bullet was deflected by some brush, perhaps the sight-in was not as close as I thought, or perhaps it was a combination of factors, but I missed.  I will definitely have to continue refining the accuracy of the rifle before next season now that I have a new ramrod.

Bristol-Plainville Outdoor Ice Skating Conditions

I checked out 2 different places local to the Bristol-Plainville Connecticut area this weekend for outdoor ice skating.

Plainville Middle School has an iced over pond cleared off for skating.  It is unsupervised and does not get a lot of use.  It's a good spot for some pick up pond hockey.  This is a natural, mostly untended surface, so conditions were a little rough this weekend.  There were a lot of bumps and snow patches.  However, it was skatable.  You need to go during daylight since there are no lights.  If there's snow, bring your shovel to clear off a spot.

The volleyball courts at Stocks Playground in Bristol were iced over and open for public skating.  The conditions are slightly better than in Plainville, although about a third of the rink was blocked off due to poor conditions.  Lights are available for evening skating, but the area is supervised.  The public can only skate during certain hours.  The exact hours are available on the Bristol town website under the Parks Department section.  The weekend hours are something like noon to 5 PM.  During the week the rink is open until 6 PM, although I'm not sure when it opens.  Otherwise, the gate to the fence is locked.  The rink is rather small (about the size of 3 volleyball courts) and crowded, and hockey is not allowed due to the congestion.  However, usually the ice is pretty smooth, and there are benches available.

Powerbelt Bullets versus Plastic Covered Sabots in Muzzleloaders

It's a little late in the year to be writing about muzzleoaders, but there was one topic I failed to mention during the hunting season that I wanted to touch upon: What's the best bullet to use in a muzzleloader?

I think it's pretty safe to assume that we can all conclude that a round ball is not the way to go in today's modern muzzleloader rifles.  Therefore, most people use either the plastic covered sabot bullets, or the Powerbelt type bullets.  If you are not familiar with Powerbelt bullets, you can check out their website:

http://powerbeltbullets.com/

Instead of using a plastic sleeve, Powerbelts have a plastic piece attached to the back of them that does the job of the plastic sleeve in standard sabot rounds.

Now, I'm not going to talk about performance, and ballistics, and velocity or any other high tech bullet performance topic.  As far as I'm concerned, for hunting whitetails in Connecticut and throughout the Northeast, both plastic covered sabots and Powerbelt-type bullets are more than capable of killing a deer at most practical distances.  The biggest concern for me when comparing the two was ease of use.

I'm new to muzzleloaders, so upon first loading a muzzleloader with a plastic covered sabot I was amazed at how difficult it was to push the bullet down the barrel.  After a few shots it was nearly a two man operation to get the plastic sabot down the barrel.  Although I would not characterize them as easy, the Powerbelt bullets had a significant advantage over the standard plastic sabots in ease of pushing down the barrel.  Additionally, the Powerbelt bullets do not foul the barrel with plastic after shooting, so it's easier to push the Powerbelt down a fouled barrel.

To me, the Powerbelt bullets were significantly easier to use than the plastic covered sabots.  I reccommend anyone who shoots muzzleloaders currently using plastic sabots to consider trying out the Powerbelt-type bullets. 

 

How to Obtain A Connecticut Pistol Permit

The journey to get a pistol permit in the state of Connecticut is not for the faint of heart. It took me 4+ months and over $300 just to have access to my rights supposedly guaranteed to me by the second amendment of the Bill of Rights of the United States Constitution. Despite the bureaucratic BS, I have persevered and finally received my Connecticut pistol permit.


My memory may fail me on all the exact fees and charges, but the process for getting a Connecticut pistol permit is summarized below:

1) Consider getting your hunting license. This is not a requirement, but the NRA firearms safety course that is required to obtain a hunting license is useful. It gives you some education, and gives your future pistol permit class instructor a good feeling that you are at least somewhat familiar with firearms.
2) Take an NRA-certified pistol safety course. Cost: ~$100. You can use the NRA website to find courses and instructors in your area. Be sure to take the correct course required for the pistol permit, as the NRA offers several types of courses. The course I took was held in the basement of a local NRA instructor. The course is designed to be a full day course, but the actual length will vary depending on the number of students, and the knowledge level of the students. I was done with my class by lunchtime. Live fire is required for the course. For that portion we had to go to a local indoor shooting range. There is also a basic written test that must be passed in order to complete the class. The instructor determines the price of the class, but most instructors are charging around $100.
3) Apply for a local permit at the local police station. Cost: $70. After passing the NRA course, you will need to take your course certificate, certified birth certificate ($10) or passport, drivers license, and passport-style photo (free at AAA if you are a member) to your local police station. There they will give you the necessary forms to fill out to apply for the local permit. Of course, there is a processing fee. They may also schedule a time for you to be fingerprinted if they don’t do it at that time.
4) Get finger printed. Cost: $50. You will need to submit to fingerprints at the local police station. There is a charge for the station to do the fingerprinting.
5) Wait for background check. At this point, you have provided the local police department everything they need to process your permit. They will conduct a background check and call you at the conclusion of the background check. They estimate that the background check will take 6 weeks, but it will most likely take longer.
6) Pick up local pistol permit. Cost: $70. After completing the background check, the local police department will call you to pick up your local pistol permit. This permit is good for 60 days.
7) Go to DPS to obtain state permit. Cost: $70. After getting your local permit, you take this permit, your certified birth certificate or passport, and drivers license to one of the Connecticut Department of Public Safety locations. At that point, you will wait in line, fill out a form, pay another $70 any they will take your picture and immediately issue your state pistol permit, which is good for 5 years. I went to the DPS headquarters location in Middletown, but your local police station should provide a list of all the available locations. Most other locations are in police barracks throughout the state.

That’s it. At that point, you have your Connecticut pistol permit.

It seems simple on paper, but in my case it required a trip to the town hall of the town in which I was born to obtain a certified birth certificate, a trip to the local AAA office to get a passport photo, sacrificing a Saturday for the NRA class, 3 trips to the local police station, and an afternoon driving and waiting in line at the state DPS.

“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step” – Confucius

“From my cold, dead hands” – Charlton Heston