Gun Owning Smokers

[Stoopy]

Loaded so test rounds for my 7mm mag. I'm going deer hunting in 2 weeks so I need to hurry and find a good load. Kommiefornia passed a no lead for hunting rounds law so now I have to use solid copper which is bullshit.

[CptnBlues63]

Loaded so test rounds for my 7mm mag. I'm going deer hunting in 2 weeks so I need to hurry and find a good load. Kommiefornia passed a no lead for hunting rounds law so now I have to use solid copper which is bullshit.

You'll excuse me for laughing but what's the concern, that the animal might die of lead poisoning???

I suppose it's a possibility if the animal is only wounded and the bullet stays inside the critter but, that is rather unlikely with a high powered rifle (especially a 7mm magnum........lol). The only lead I ever found inside a deer was a .22 I pulled out of a young white tail bucks butt that had been in there for at least a year. I figure a year because the wound was fully healed and the only reason we found the bullet was because it stopped the grinder. A much nicer way than biting into a piece of roast only to discover the bullet.

You can carry some stuff too far and I think this is a case of that. It's highly unlikely (in my estimation) that one bullet inside a deer could cause it to die slowly from lead poisoning. 15 or 20, maybe, but one..........nahhhh, I'm not buying it.

Make sure you take pics of any deer you get, I'd love to see!

I'm leaving on my annual hunting trip on the 31st and I'm starting to get excited..........or as my wife would call it, "going into rut"
I'll be pulling my hunting trailer into the driveway this weekend to start prep'ing it.

[Stoopy]

It was left wing law makers claiming the California condors were eating the lead and dying. I believe it was another plan to take more gun rights from law abiding gun owners. It's complete bullshit but once it's law you have to abide or risk getting slapped on the hand by DFG. This will be my first deer hunt. I'm going with a good friend and his FIL. If I get anything I will definitely take pics.

[CptnBlues63]

It was left wing law makers claiming the California condors were eating the lead and dying. I believe it was another plan to take more gun rights from law abiding gun owners. It's complete bullshit but once it's law you have to abide or risk getting slapped on the hand by DFG. This will be my first deer hunt. I'm going with a good friend and his FIL. If I get anything I will definitely take pics.

I'm sure you're 100% correct on it being a method of messing with law abiding gun owners.

Usually it's us folks up here in Canada who are getting it the worst but as I understand it, California is quickly becoming very "Canada like" in with it's gun laws.

That's really cool it's your first hunt. You only have a "first hunt" once so enjoy it and have a lot of fun!

[Mangyrat]

Stoopy what bullet are you going with?
looks like you're doing SST or FTX.

I really like the SST for my 300 AAC.

Edit
Ops i just saw your going with solid copper "due to your state" so probably MonoFlex.

[Stoopy]

139gn hornaday GMX

[Mangyrat]

139gn hornaday GMX

Im starting to have problems finding 125 grain SST for my 300 AAC so im looking for a new bullet to try.
I spent a lot of time working up a load i liked now i have to change bullets.

My local shops stopped carrying them i can still find them online "3 boxes just came in the mail" i just hate waiting when i want to reload i want to reload not wait on shipping.

[Stoopy]

Now that you have 3 boxes to hold you over for a little bit just order a big bulk amount online. When you get halfway thru those order more. It's not like bullets go bad.

[Stoopy]

Forgot to say I built a new reloading bench for my big press. It's pretty solid now that it's bolted down but still flexes a little when forming Dtc brass.




Got some 750gn amax's also.

That's a .223 next to the amax.

[Mangyrat]

Nice loading bench, do i see a dillon in the back ground?
I am still using Lee stuff other than a dillon pocket swager that i really like and honady camlock trimmer.

One day i will move up the the 50BMG

Well now i am doing trigger jobs on my AR's the last one i built i didn't like the trigger so while i am at it i might as well do them all.
As my luck would have it the wife used the last of my metal polish so i have to make a run to the hardware store.

[Eville]

Made it out to the range yesterday with the pistols, ARs, Mosin and Garand. Didn't do anything serious, just some light paper punching. We go to a state owned DNR range, which takes a lot of the fun out of it. Can only shoot paper targets, can't shoot from closer than 25 yards, etc. Its great if you are trying to sight in a scope or experimenting with loads, but that's about it. I also kept having problems all day, probably due to the humidity. The firing lines are covered, but it was still raining pretty steadily. My AR kept failing to strip rounds out of the magazine and a few failures to eject. My 1911 kept failing to feed all the way. It would get stuck with the slide about 2mm back. The Garand did great with the Atomic ammo, but had the same issue as the 1911 with PMC. Still a decent day though.

[CptnBlues63]

Made it out to the range yesterday with the pistols, ARs, Mosin and Garand. Didn't do anything serious, just some light paper punching. We go to a state owned DNR range, which takes a lot of the fun out of it. Can only shoot paper targets, can't shoot from closer than 25 yards, etc. Its great if you are trying to sight in a scope or experimenting with loads, but that's about it. I also kept having problems all day, probably due to the humidity. The firing lines are covered, but it was still raining pretty steadily. My AR kept failing to strip rounds out of the magazine and a few failures to eject. My 1911 kept failing to feed all the way. It would get stuck with the slide about 2mm back. The Garand did great with the Atomic ammo, but had the same issue as the 1911 with PMC. Still a decent day though.

I meant to ask you earlier about your 1911 but forgot. I had feed issues with my 1911 similar to what you describe above. When it happened, I would just pull the slide back a fraction and the round would feed. My 1911 is a Para Ordnance GI Expert. If you have the same handgun, contact Para Ordnance. I did and they had me send it in for warranty work. The extractor was replaced and something with the firing pin assembly (I forget what now, this was like, last April). The gun works perfectly now.

FWIW, I only had the feed issues with factory "ball" ammo. I buy a lot of reloaded ammo that uses semi wad cutter leads and those fed perfectly. Since the repair, I bought 500 rounds of ball reloads and haven't had a single feed issues.

[Eville]

I meant to ask you earlier about your 1911 but forgot. I had feed issues with my 1911 similar to what you describe above. When it happened, I would just pull the slide back a fraction and the round would feed. My 1911 is a Para Ordnance GI Expert. If you have the same handgun, contact Para Ordnance. I did and they had me send it in for warranty work. The extractor was replaced and something with the firing pin assembly (I forget what now, this was like, last April). The gun works perfectly now.

FWIW, I only had the feed issues with factory "ball" ammo. I buy a lot of reloaded ammo that uses semi wad cutter leads and those fed perfectly. Since the repair, I bought 500 rounds of ball reloads and haven't had a single feed issues.

Mine is a Citadel 3.5" model. I've fired all kinds of rounds through without any problems until that day with Wolf steel case. With the problems the rest of the guns were having, I'm betting it was a mix of weather and not enough lubrication. I guess I'l just have to get back out to the range to verify that.

[Stoopy]

No they changed that, it was one of the first things i looked at when buying the gun. "they don't like it when you field strip a gun in the big box stores but if you're fast they can't stop you" Well in the stores defens it was the display gun i was taking apart before they knew what was happening.

It's there fault for not paying attention, right?

Well I fired 60 rounds thru the 7 mag yesterday. Found a load that will work. My shoulder is a little tender today. I also picked up a new pair of binos so I should be all set. I just hope the deer cooperate on filling the freezer.

[CptnBlues63]

It's there fault for not paying attention, right?

Well I fired 60 rounds thru the 7 mag yesterday. Found a load that will work. My shoulder is a little tender today. I also picked up a new pair of binos so I should be all set. I just hope the deer cooperate on filling the freezer.

60 rounds would make anybody's shoulder sore...........lol

I hope you have good luck too and the deer cooperate. Maybe you can get yourself a nice 5x5 (that's 10 point to you folks in the US...lol) buck like the one I took in 2012:

[Eville]

Nice deer. I picked myself up a new CCW tonight. Rented a S&W Shield in 9mm at the range. Was going to shoot a Nano as well, but loved the Shield and am already familiar with the M&P platform so I went for it. The slide release is almost unusably heavy but that should loosen up with time. If anyone is looking for a single stack 9mm, I recommend it.

[CptnBlues63]

So hunting season for me starts in a couple days (Nov 1) since I only hunt with the rifle these days. I used to hunt with a bow in the 80's but got sick and tired of seeing the animal I wanted out of range...........lol

I wanted to get out and do some verification shots at the different ranges I have my scope preset to and managed to a week ago Sunday. Forgot to post the results so I'm doing it today.

The gun is my Remington 700 VTR - aside from the removable magazine I put in it (hate those trap doors!) it's totally "stock" (pardon the pun). It has my Swarovski Z5 3,5-18x44 (BT) scope on it. The scope is zeroed at 250 (first photo is my verification of zero) and the presets are: 350 yards, 400 yards, 500 yards. Even though this style of ballistic turret only makes one revolution and stops, it turns out I'm also calibrated for 600 yards. That's one click back from the stop. I haven't tried it out to 600 yards yet, but will next summer.

250 yard "zero" verification (including 1 'throw-away' shot an inch left of the rest of the group)


The following is 500 yards. The first group (4 rounds) was fired at the right most red circle. The three immediately below and just to the right are the first 3 rounds. The one off the grid at the bottom right is the 4th round (my 'throw-away') The next group (3 rounds) was fired at dead center and are the 3 just to the right of the bottom red circle. I like that grouping! The last group of 3 was fired at the bottom circle and as you can see, kind of ended up all over the place. All rounds are coming in 3 to 4" low but all rounds, if fired at a deer, moose or elk, would still be in the kill zone. I'm ready for opening day on Saturday!

[Stoopy]

I've been back from my hunting trip for a week now. I didn't get anything but I had a great time anyway. We camped at 10,700 feet of elevation. The lack of oxygen was kicking my ass. I felt like I could never catch my breath. I was even having a hard time breathing while eating. Here's some pics from the trip.

Me on my trusty steed


Our pack mules on the way over the pass


The area we hunted




We only saw one buck and it was on the last day. We tried to get him but he gave us the slip. Getting a buck next time will make it that much more satisfying.

[CptnBlues63]

First off, nice pics Stoopy Thanks for sharing! I would love a trip like yours......although I could do without wearing the strip of skin off my tailbone I always lose when riding a horse for the first time in years. Lovely country! Sorry you didn't have any luck. Maybe next year.

So far I haven't had any luck either.....but I'm still working on it locally. It was too warm where we go to hunt and barely dropped below freezing overnight. During the day it was well above freezing and we had no snow. On the very last day we hunted, the weather changed and a cold front and snow came in. I almost got a poke at an elk but the herd we saw about an hour before sunset were 700+ yards away and I couldn't get any closer. Had they been 600 yards (or closer) I'd now have elk in my freezer.

As it is, my hunting partner's son nailed a gorgeous bull moose. Rough measure is around 44" wide. He weighed about 900 lb's hanging after being dressed and skinned. I had some for supper last night and he was very tasty! LOL



My one other hunting partner, Terry, wanted to take his grandson Brandon up for a day and the two came up last Friday night and spent the night so we could get an early start the next morning. Brandon has come up to the range with us several times this past summer and was very excited about getting to come along even though he wasn't actually going to be hunting this time. I had a poke at a nice whitetail buck early in the morning and I'm not sure what happened but I missed! It was 400 yards and he was standing just on the edge of the bush so there was no chance for a second shot. Terry asked me shortly afterwards, "Problem with the gun or scope?" I said, "Nope, problem with the shooter, gun and scope are fine" He thought it might be buck fever but it wasn't. I missed. First time in.........well pretty much forever. But, season doesn't end until the end of November so I'll be going out again and hope to put at least two whitey's in the freezer. Terry did fine that evening and dropped a real nice 4x4 (8 pointer to you guys down south........lol) about 45 min's before sunset. The following is a pic of him and Brandon posing with the deer.



My wife and I started a web site some years back and if anybody is interested, you can go look at all my hunting pic's from previous years just PM me and I'll email you the URL and password.

Oh, it snowed like a bugger the night before we left and continued on all day the next day. A 500 km (300 m) trip that normally takes about 5 hours took almost 7 hours. I was quite happy to make it home that day as it looked like we might not a few times that morning before we hit roads that had actually had a snow plow over them before we got there.

[Mangyrat]

I have been kind of lazy lately and not keeping up with the forum.

Well i added a few more guns to the collection.
Browning sweet sixteen.
8.5 inch AR15 pistol build 300 AAC. "my new favorite toy".