Odin Mountain's Blog
I say this often: real world experience has borne this out time and time again – the pitter-patter of small arms fire is all well and good. Music to my ears. Freedom in action. An armed population is a Free population.
The NATO 5.56×45, the AK 7.62×39. Perhaps an occasional .308. We’ve all heard them, on and off the battlefield.
But when the big boys such as the 50-cals open up all heads get down….
You feel it in your guts.
One of my favorite rifle exercises that can be safely performed on the Odin Mountain Compound (OMC) is the practice of dry firing dummy rounds at imaginary targets.
In this article I will discuss my take on the importance of Dry Fire Practice, especially as pertains to learning how to use your magazines. The magazine portion is not trivial and I hope to convey to you something of its importance.
Continue reading “Loading Dummy Rounds for Dry Fire Practice”
Today I took a break from scouting in the forest and mountains or training in various ways on the Odin Mountain compound. No less important to maintaining the perimeter and training with gear is the maintenance and improvement of resources necessary to sustain oneself.
This morning I planted six young high bush blueberry plants in an area behind the garage that was once used as a rubbish dump by previous owners of the property. After days of work removing and recycling literally a ton of debris, an area about 25-feet x 25-feet because available and I determined a best use for the parcel of land would be blueberry bushes.
Continue reading “Blueberry Bush Workout”
This morning is a fine Fall season day. The Fall Foliage colors here in the Great North Woods is peaking. Tourists line the roads snapping pictures in vain a attempt to take back home with them a piece of the wondrous beauty they hehold from the windows of automobiles and tour buses.
But it does not work for them. As you soon as you attempt to capture beauty and mountain freedom, you loose it, much as we are losing it all today.
This morning is also a fine time for some quick rifle training on the Odin Mountain Compound (OMC). So I donned my regulation camouflage clothing, the full battle belt, grabbed the Diana Air King Model 54 caliber 22 pellet rifle and went out back of the Odin Mountain Barracks (OMB).
This morning I chose to scout Abbot Hill (elevation about 1720 feet) which is just south of Route 3 while carrying nearly a full three-day load except for food.
Gear on my belt, battle belt, shoulder bag, three-day pack, and rifle totaled about 61 pounds, which is a considerable weight to carry off-trail in dense forest and steep mountains.
This includes two quarts of water. Ammo carried was eleven four-round magazines plus one in the rifle plus one round in the chamber plus 20 boxed rounds for a total of 69. Elephant gun ammunition is heavy stuff.
If you figure about 2.5 pounds per day for food a “real” 3-day scout with the same basic gear would bring the weight to 68.5 pounds.
Continue reading “Abbot Hill Scout Age 55 Years 47 Days”
The Odin Mountain compound has about four acres in town, with a variety of forest, swamp, stream, and open land which is conducive to training.
However, being so close to civilization means I cannot discharge “traditional” firearms due to the possibility of ricochets flying off into residential areas. Also the noise produced by the discharge of even a .22lr round may be frowned upon by neighbors.
I’ve developed a safe way to practice rifle skills in an as real-world way as possible in the convenience of my backyard while actually putting lead down range. My efforts have been paying off.
Continue reading “Rifle Practice using a Pellet Gun”