It's PFD season

The Permanent Fund Dividends are scheduled to go out to those with direct deposit in just under three weeks. I usually end up using mine to pay off bills, although in years past, the money bought us a backup generator for the house. Occasionally, I’d find some other worthy use (in my opinion, at least) for the funds.

This year’s PFD, being as large as it is, will go a lot further in my spending plans. I’m hoping to use about half of it to replace and upgrade the tires on our small motorhome. The current tires would probably survive another year or two at the rate we drive the RV, but the tires are already about fifteen years old.

I’m looking forward to some “off the beaten path” trips with it next year now that I can walk again, so I would prefer to be running on tires with a full, thick tread given some of the places I might take it (like surf fishing and upland bird hunting).

I’m looking for some more aggressive tread tires to deal with two-track roads and other gravel or sandy roads leading to more remote sites. The tread on the current tires is getting a little thin and I’ve found street tread tires just don’t work that well on snow or when the going gets rough!

I’m also hoping to use the other half of my PFD to buy a gun, but not just any gun. The Italian gun maker, Uberti, makes a replica of the single-shot Winchester High Wall model 1885 rifle. The specific model gun I’m interested in is called the Courteney and is chambered in 303 British caliber. Uberti styled the rifle to look like a light African stalking rifle that was popular with British hunters back in the early 20th century. To define “light,” the rifle weighs about seven and a half pounds.

If I get this rifle, my plans are to use it for hunting moose and/or caribou and possibly black bears. It would also make a fun gun just to shoot recreationally.

The 303 British caliber was the caliber of choice of the British and UK countries from the late 19th century all the way to the late 1950’s, serving through two world wars and several smaller conflicts. The caliber is similar to our American 30-06, but not quite as powerful. The 303 British cartridge has been very popular in Canada for big game hunting, which is why I would have no qualms about using it to hunt moose within reasonable shooting ranges.

I have a virtually brand new (Mk. 4 No. 2, made in Ireland) British military rifle in 303 British caliber, so I am familiar with the ballistics of the cartridge. I also have another Uberti model 1885 Winchester High Wall clone, but that rifle is styled quite differently than the Courteney. The one I have is set up as a blackpowder cartridge rifle with an 1880’s style scope and mounts and chambered in 38-55 caliber. The rifle weighs around twelve pounds and is routinely fired from a cross-sticks bench rest.

The 38-55 caliber was a popular target shooting cartridge back in the black powder era and successfully made the transition to smokeless powder as ammunition development evolved. It also was considered to be a good medium game (deer, black bear, caribou) hunting cartridge as well. While not mainstream common today, it is still regularly encountered in blackpowder shooting matches around the country.

It’s also an accurate round, too. To brag just a little, I set the state record on the standing bear, 100-yard target during the 2021 Alaska Territorial Blackpowder Shooting Match, during the Blackpowder Cartridge Aggregate with my High Wall.

I didn’t shoot the 2022 Alaska Territorials because of my ankle, but I did attend a couple of days to watch and help with RSO (Range Safety Officer) duties. I was especially interested in the Blackpowder Cartridge Aggregate matches. One of the guys is a national class shooter (Pat) and he was shooting this aggregate. I kept a close eye on the scores for the standing bear target and nobody was challenging my record except for this one shooter.

My record score was a forty-nine out of a possible fifty points. When Pat posted his score for this target, he had shot a forty-eight. He told me he had pulled his last shot to let me keep the record.

Well, I rambled a little bit in telling you my plans for the PFD. We’ll see what happens.