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Messages - zoniezonie

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1
Around the Campfire (General Discussion) / Re: Dogs
« on: Yesterday at 09:29:49 AM »
you would have needed to see the condition of these 2 puppies she found one was skinny and the other was skin and bones,  it had snowed the week before I doubt the one would have lasted the night,  we took them home fed them and the next day they went to the Vet to get a check up and what ever they needed,  one had severe runs and the vet gave us the medicine,  we decided to keep them after none of the local dog societies would take them which really pissed me off that's what they do and they didn't do their jobs.  we do have a problem of people dumping their dogs and that's wrong just in humane.  anyway we started giving them their shots and getting them back in health and now we have them which is a lifetime commitment and that's ok it's worth it.  I was going to name one of them carcass but my wife put a stop to that.   I thought it was a good name considering where she found them.  now they are named Luke and Shep my wife named them. 

2
Around the Campfire (General Discussion) / Re: loading your own
« on: November 27, 2023, 06:16:50 PM »
To re-load or not re-load is the question.  the answer to this one could take pages of different answers / solutions.  I do agree keep all your brass even 22 rim fires (Corbin equipment you can make small caliber bullet jackets using spent rim fire cases), keep all your wheel weights.  Then you can add once fired brass to your collection when either buying them or picking up range brass.  Buy used re-loading equipment once you get the knowledge of what to look for. the only thing I might buy new is a powder scale beam type (they last forever if taken care of). This is tongue and cheek  I'm just throwing it out there.   If you are looking at down the road of  re-loading supplies shortages or worse,  think consolidating guns, calibers, useful powders, primers, etc. A little off script here if you don't shoot very much it doesn't make sense to re-load just buy ammo or you can buy for each caliber a set of dies, shell holders, powder, primers and bullets and have a friend teach you to re-load on his equipment or buy your own down the road if need be.  Back on consolidating if the shxt hits the burner long term  you really only need a handful of guns, a good bolt action rifle probably in 308, ar-15, 9mm, 22 Rim Fire rifle and a 12 ga pump.   thinking long term availability of everything something along these lines,  tier 1  consolidate powders  to what can work in multiple calibers 4895 is a good one to start you can load big game rifles and 5.56 cals,  unique powder is another good one for shot guns to pistols, these 2 powders may not be the absolute best for all cartridges  but good enough for most,  get some  22 rim fires buy in bulk and keep them around.  now we all know no one is going to do this right.  the next tier 2 stuff you have right now that you like to shoot whatever that may be and keep enough supplies on hand.  right now primers are the hardest to find  and buy them in 1000 packs,  if you shoot hand guns buy small pistol and small pistol mag primers and  large pistol primers and large pistol mag primers, in rifles buy small rifle, large rifle and large rifle mag primers,  shot guns 209 and 209 mag primers,  all of this is dependent on what you shoot of course.   I don't think a lot of these supplies are going down in price for the most part,  powders and primers are the most important without them you don't shoot.  brass can be formed from other cartridges if needed, bullets can be made on lathes or cast, you can cast or swage bullets then plate them just depends on how far you want to go.

On the original question to re-load or not,   it's  my relaxation time to myself,    I've done it for year's,  I'm set up for it and still to this day buy equipment that I don't need or a duplicate.   these single stage presses today  and old school presses, you would have to drive over one to bend,  not talking the aluminum stuff,  buy good quality standardized equipment used when you can, buy mutiple re-loading manuals.  buy a good scale electronics are fine down the road but not to start.  used reloading dies when you can,  of ourse shell holders, get a good case trimmer, with all the pilots,  a good vernieer caliper 0" to 6 "  we have the good machinist grade but we use them on car's and other things. get a good vibrating tumbler and go the  pet store and buy ground pet litter ground walnut as a cleaning polishing media far cheaper than commercial stuff.  I use additives to our polishing media to make it faster,  you can use corn cob also takes a little longer,   you might want the get a good powder measure for throwing powder charges,  not the same as a powder scale.  loading blocks you can buy or make.  case lube you can make or buy or use carbide sizing dies on pistols and some rifle calibers or just lube and size with regular dies.  I roll my rifle cases on a concentric tool but not needed if you load carefully and rotate bullets 180 degrees upon bullet seating half way down and rotate before you bottom out, keeps bullets straight.  get a set of case guages mostly for auto pistols, you can case guage by pulling the semi auto barrel and using it as a case guage,  same with a revolver just drop each sized loaded case into the open cylinder and see it it drops in.  Lee makes the best final size die for auto pistols I have and use them to ensure correct feeding.  preparation and inspection is the best thing you can do when re-loading .   I probably forgot some stuff the other guys will chime in,  keep good re-loading records and keep targets in file folders with loading by each group,   all info is good info.     

3
Around the Campfire (General Discussion) / Re: Update on my son
« on: November 26, 2023, 07:34:01 PM »
I'm glad he is getting better ,  you worry about your kids and when something happens you worry even more. 

4
Around the Campfire (General Discussion) / Re: Dogs
« on: November 26, 2023, 06:57:26 PM »
Grouchy sorry about Rambo we all know how much you loved your dog.  Your new dog is going to be great.  our dogs are easier to get along with than a couple my relatives.   early this year my wife found 2  ten  wk old puppies starving to death eating inside an old dead cow carcass near an old de-activated train track a mile or so from the house she hikes down there with our female Catahoula dog,  tried to give them to humane society and other dog shelters no one would take them all full up,  anyway they are about a year old now and we finally found out 90 % guess  what these 2 male puppies are they are Carolina dogs,  my wife found more info on them calling them boot-leggers dogs.  they alert on every thing including me,  bark bark bark,  which is a good thing I guess.  they play fight like brothers and will stand their ground against intruders even though they are only 40 lbs,  smart frekin dogs and observant,  when they get bored and start eating or taking things they shouldn't,  we let them run a few fenced acres they chase ravens, squirrels, rats, lizards, rabbits, cars, anything that moves they go after.   one of them stole my Seiko watch off the same desk, they took something of my wife's can't remember what it was she wasn't very happy at all.  Found the watch in a little lawn by the garage didn't tear them up they just took them.   I think they are going to be great dogs,  they do well off the leash when out hiking,  they stay by us almost like a protector ,  they don't like other dogs and don't warm up to other people until they get to know them,   we did get them fixed I don't think it helped though.  now they have little insulated vests on at night  in their crates when it's cold out sleeping inside with us. you can set an alarm to them they wake up at 5:30 to 6 am every morning to go outside and pee, sitting by the side door waiting for me to quickly open the door so they can go chase the cottontails munching on the grass, then do their thing,   they take off like little rockets,  fun to watch them. 

5
Around the Campfire (General Discussion) / Re: the 6.5 rpm
« on: November 23, 2023, 09:08:51 PM »
I agree if a persons is not comfortable don't do it.  many years ago I would have never thought of shooting much past 400 yds and we had this discussion between friends that were for and against and one of them a G&F friend was set up to shoot elk at 700 yds or more and posed a question to me, so what's the difference of a slob hunter that can't hit a deer or whatever at 100 yds and wounds it never to be found because they didn't want to go track the animal,   seen slob hunters walk away.  Oh it's just barely wounded,  yea right I got some beach front property I will sell you as the old saying goes. on the other hand if a person is trained , practices on a regular basis and passes on long shots that are questionable or they are  not comfortble of cleanly taking the animal then walk away from it.  but if you can make the shot, with the right equipment  and you have people spotting with you then go for it.  really I had not come back answer to him.  in the bigger skeem of things he said  you are probably going to find more animals lost from slob hunters, I thought about it and decided to shoot long range if I needed to. Seen wounded bull elk in archery season arrow sticking out of it's leg or other places there were no hunters around tracking them and that was wrong they got to live with themselves.  I have  been out bull elk hunting with the family and i wacked this big bull antlers all busted up from fighting, in the late afternoon maybe 60 or 70 yds dead solid rest he was facing looking at me along with another bull anyway I wacked dead center in the chest and he just looked at me and took off,  270 win with a 150 partition completely grenaded on a pea gravel mud encrusted  bulls chest that he had been wallowing in,   we tracked that bull from that after noon until early in the next morning with flash lights, we just didn't find it went back to camp for a couple hours and went back out ,  found him at 7 am the next morning sitting up underneath a tree still alive so I finished him off,  now how many people would be that persistent ? my friends would.  we have never lost an animal WE have shot knock on wood.  almost every year when we are  hunting elk and you hear 5 shots reload and  5 more shots and a couple more in quick succession and you know they are not hitting it correctly,  and I will bet they are not shooting 800 yds  knowing the area as we do.   IMO there is no right or wrong answer,  just an fyi we have had partitions completely grenade on elk before usually very close shots at higher velocities.,  I look for bullets in all our game animals.  back when we most of my family were using 270 win's on elk and with good success usually the partitions would blow right thru or we would find the bullet on the off side hide,  but when we started hunting longer ranges my son and I both went with 300 wby's and our friends use 7mm rem mags, 7mm stw, 7mm rem ultra mags, other lesser friends use 300 ultra mags and 30-378's, a few use the newer prc's,  new equipment and much better technology has changed.

6
Around the Campfire (General Discussion) / Re: the 6.5 rpm
« on: November 21, 2023, 01:37:23 PM »
If anyone could find it  ;D     beautiful,  wild,  and unforgiving. 

7
Around the Campfire (General Discussion) / Re: the 6.5 rpm
« on: November 20, 2023, 10:14:01 PM »
I guess long range hunting is where and what you are hunting, last week  here it AZ  my son and I took a 3 dayer down in the Superstitions on a Coues deer hunt almost everything  we were in is long range,  close range would be 500 yds it's just how it is,  desert  mtn's in the cactus,  Cholla every where,  and rugged beyond most people would want to drag a deer out in.  closest we got to any Couse deer was 860 yds across a canyon Wrong sex so no shots were taken,  seen a few nice  desert Muley bucks that were close range all down in the lower elevations , but I wasn't hunting them.  I was using a 6.5 Creedmoor and for Coues is a good match although I did take a back up 300 Wby since we were not near the house.  This country is either walk in the wilderness or skirt the boundries  with a sxs or quad some of this stuff is pure vertical  and extremely sandy & rocky,  outside the wilderness boundries the roads are just terrible and trucks/jeeps  don't do as well (too stiff beat you to death)  as a good utv or quad.  most guys and a few girls that hunt this stuff are  set up for long range and you are going to have to hunt with a person or 2 spotting.  Only the best optics on these very small Coues at these ranges,  I was having a hard time seeing them when they weren't moving even standing/eating broadside.  This area for the most part is a sit-spot-shoot long range proposition. I told my son this area is a good place for my Savage 110 FCP-HS with 5x20 Huskemaw in 338 Lapua.  most of my friends into this kind of Coues hunting use long range whatever caliber they can hit at long ranges with mostly 6.5's to 300 mags or a few 338's, why would people use 300 mags on a hundred pound deer ?  because they have found to be successful at these ranges  you need the flattest shooting cartridge most accurate setup you can afford.  Down south on the border it's slightly different more deer.   it's definitely not for everyone that's for sure.  Coues deer bedded down   will hold tight and let a hunter walk right by and when it's safe they get up and go the other direction or just keep sitting there, every now and then we will be watching a Coues and a hunter walks pretty close to the deer and never sees them,  they don't call them the Gray Ghost for no reason.   You have to spot for hours some times just to find one and you know they are there sitting up underneath a bush. 

8
Around the Campfire (General Discussion) / Re: Knike blade steel quality
« on: November 19, 2023, 05:38:03 PM »
My every day carry is a Lone Wolf Harsey in S30V ,    sometimes i carry a  little 3 blade uncle henry not the tier one steel but 3 different blade styles suits my purpose for handy little utility knife that is easy to sharpen.  Most people can't sharpen a knife worth a dam there are exceptions of course  basically those people who make a living with a knife,  butchers, sailers, guides and others. I got a wild hair one year and bought a Boker infinity ceramic folder about a 3 1/4 " drop point ,  sharp knife but don't pry with it . I used it one year on 5 elk before it needed sharpening so I sent it back for sharpening to take the little chips out and re-new the edge,  it didn't come back as sharp as it was when new so I let it sit in a drawer for years until this last year and called the company up and they sent me out one of the last new replacement blades because they don't make the knife any more, so now it sits here in the drawer with a new blade.  I'm pretty anal about sharpening my son made me a wooden jig at different angles I can sit diamond stones in the get the corret blade angles, and then I will take a Spyderco triangle sharpener with 2 different ceramic stones for a final touch,  works good, on really hard to sharpen blades we have a little 1 " belt sander with different grits up to the thousands grits,  I rarely use it.   I do have my dad's old straight razer hone and stroop that does put a final edge on,  but it's for straight razors and of little use on other blade types.  Very first thing I do when I get a knife is get the correct angle on it so I don't have to fuss with it in the field or where I'm using it.

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Around the Campfire (General Discussion) / Re: Tesla Cybertruck?
« on: November 06, 2023, 06:09:39 PM »
What a joke ,  just how am I going to get a set of 37's under that body ?  this is going to go the way of the Edsel I think

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Around the Campfire (General Discussion) / Re: Youth Hunt
« on: November 06, 2023, 06:03:30 PM »
All of you will have memories of a lifetime,  great job!

11
Good Doggy !  that's got to be a lot of fun

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Around the Campfire (General Discussion) / Re: Scope mounts
« on: October 31, 2023, 11:50:43 AM »
Current typical world record rocky mtn elk  was taken with a Savage 99 in 308,   not to terribly far from where we live and hunt.  In basically the general area as  the Jimmy John's bull was taken and another monster bull was taken a few years earlier but will never go in the book so the rumors go.  I guess it was a year we were in there my son passed on a real toad because it was sky lighted on a ridge,  I ranged it out @ 200 yds totally broadside 3 other lesser bulls with him.  my wife and I just watched and said nothing oh well it was the right decision.  a lot of rain the year before and antler growth was as expected.  I wouldn't have an issue with a 200 yd  shot on any elk using a  300 Savage as long as it was a clean shot. 

13
Around the Campfire (General Discussion) / Re: Scope mounts
« on: October 30, 2023, 01:38:33 PM »
Sounds like a great rifle ,  Ill bet shoots also.   

14
Around the Campfire (General Discussion) / Re: Scope mounts
« on: October 30, 2023, 12:29:45 PM »
Savage 99's are getting a little pricy today especially in good shape,  I prefer the older lever safety models although the tang safety models are nice also.  look for odd calibers.   Without seeing the rifle it's near impossible to put a price on a 99,  my guess would be in reference to the rifle Big Muddy   might be an earlier version only because of caliber,  could be a featherweight ?  might be a take down version ?  I don't know when they stopped making the 300 Savage without doing some research ?  I gave my son a 99  early featherweight version in 300 Savage in almost new condition he took his first elk with it.  The 300 Savage is a very good caliber akin to a 308 lite with minimal recoil.  My son's is very accurate 1 " or less @ 100 yds in an old lever ain't bad.  I asked if he would trade that rifle back to me,  no way.  If the rifle is in good shape no bad dings,  blueing is good, case hardening is good,  and remember prices vary from state to state.  sometimes gun shops will sell used or consignment guns at very reasonable prices just to get rid of them and other shops are selling used guns at factory new gun prices.  new guns are nice , but I will take a good quality old hand fitted gun anyday over a new version as long as it isn't all shot out.

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Around the Campfire (General Discussion) / Re: Scope mounts
« on: October 30, 2023, 12:17:08 PM »
Love those old Savage 99's,   that's just how it was back then,  could send a picture to Williams gun sight company and see if they have any info.  Personally I wouldn't make any changes just shoot it as is.  A lot of old guns I just cringe when I see how they mounted scopes back in the day,  yea you could always find a good gunsmith and have him drill and Tap for a more modern soope base then you still have those ugly holes in the receiver from  the old mount,  It's probably a strong mount just leave it alone.  Some of those old Savages are pretty expensive today.   Just an FYI a really good gunsmith can weld those holes then file down / polish and re-blue to where you would never know the holes were there, but if you still want a scope mounted the gunsmith is still going to have to drill & tap on top of the receiver OR go to a real nice  folding tang mounted vernier sight assuming you have an appropriate front sight.  remember once you start re-blueing and other non stock modifications the gun value usually goes down a lot sometimes.   I would be more interested in the rifles caliber something like a 250-3000 or what ever ?  Just from the picture it looks like a lever mounted safety, maybe a featherweight  99 ?  hard to tell in picture and it has a counter.  It's not a take down version is it ?  I can't tell in the picture.   

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