lancetkenyon

Does she have the Jr. 12AW antlerless tag in a couple weeks?

Where in N. Phoenix are you located? I will look and see whats available but this sounds like a good plan. How many do you have? I am basically I-17 & 101 area. I am in Laughlin right now, but my wife is off this week. I have plenty loaded up, so let me know if you want to try some. They are plenty capable of sub-MOA groups as well.

I have some 69 SMKs loaded up if you want to grab some to try out in your rifle. Shoots 3033fps out of my 24" barreled AR. My daughter took her Javelina with them this February. Went about 30 yds. before piling up. .224" hole going in, about a quarter ($.25) sized hole coming out.

Cool photo. I dig snakes.

From the Nosler book: IMR4831 max load is 53.5 @ 2910fps H4831(SC) max load is 58.0 @ 3000fps. For my .270, I ran case weights to see variance in brass content, meaning more or less capacity. All of these were average for at least 10 cases. Hornady=182.0 Nosler=184.3 Frontier=188.0 Winchester=190.0 Remington=196.0 Federal=202.5 That is 5.7 gr. difference between Nosler and Winchester in brass content, meaning slightly more case capacity for the Nosler. With that being said, case capacity is a little higher in the Nosler vs. the Winchester, so that should add up to less pressure, meaning less velocity. Try weighing your cases, then filling with water to see how much water capacity they have. Also, if you have other brands of brass, or can borrow some, see what those differences are as well.

Awesome bull. Take a trophy photo of the first plate of steaming elk steaks, and all will be forgiven for the lack of field photos!

Nice bull, should look great next to a steaming pile of mashed potatoes and gravy too!

2 3/4" or 3"? If you were in the Valley, I would take a couple.

Had a fun scouting day yesterday. Poured like cats and dogs the entire way from Phoenix to the unit. Once we pulled off the road onto dirt, it quit raining. No dust, no hunters, super quiet terrain. We took a few hikes to check bedding areas, and the woods were literally alive with bugling elk. At one time, we had 9 different elk screaming all around us. Hiked a couple miles, and saw some dandy bulls. Dropped a fresh salt block off at a lick I know of about a mile from any roads too. Found some elk sheds, found some fresh bear tracks, saw lots of elk, and a got a photograph of a shooter. Not a monster, but a good typical mature bull. The dogs got a workout, the wife got some relaxation and some laughs, and Taylor and I got some good father/daughter lessons and about 6 miles of boot leather on the ground getting into lots of elk. About 2:00PM, the rain came back with a vengeance, so we packed it up and headed back. Poured the entire way back too. Awesome weather, awesome times, awesome experience. Raring to go. The wife was just THRILLED she got to get up at 2:30AM on her day off to go scouting with us.... Even the DOGS love scouting! Quit raining right as we got off pavement We hope to find the guy that did this... Hard to see, but this small 6 point bull was bedded across a 100 yd. canyon from us. No cows with him though....they were with his Daddy further up the canyon. This was the second 5 point shed we found in the same canyon. One in the bottom, one on the ridgeline. Nothing huge, but cool to find. My wife is already planning decorations with them....chandelier, coat rack....I am sure more work for me to do. The young one is on a leash, because he thought it would be funny to chase a herd of elk.....I didn't find it funny, and neither did the elk. So he got strung up the rest of the day. Sorry for the lousy photo, but this guy was about 1K yds. off with his girlfriends, and it was drizzling. Everyone was wiped out on the way home.

My son-in-law is a mechanic at Rodeo Ford. I promise you he is reliable, honest, and very well trained. If you want his name, let me know. He might not tell you what you want to hear, but he will tell you the truth. And he is a dang fine mechanic, and a fantastic person (the reason he is still alive and now married to my daughter).

According to my Nosler book, your loads are a far cry from published velocities. You are using their preferred primers (Fed 210 LR), but you never mentioned case brand/head stamp. They loaded with Winchester cases. If you use a different case, it could have different capacity, causing either lower pressure/lower velocity, or high pressure/higher velocities. 47.0gr. RL15 (published max) should net you about 2832fps. 53.5gr. IMR4350 is over published max load of 52.5 which should net you about 2858fps, so your load should be even hotter. 55.0gr. RL19 (published max) should net you about 3003fps. These are all book loads, so take them for what they are worth as far as "Max". Books are usually very safe on what they will publish as a max load for liability reasons.

Here are my two loads for my .270Win Interarms Mark X w. 24" barrel 140 Berger VLD 58.3 gr. RL22 Winchester brass CCI BR-2 Primers .0050 from lands 3075 FPS @ 95°, 1563' AMSL, 29.90 Baro Shoots just under MOA 150 NAB LR 57.5 gr. H4831SC Winchester brass CCI BR-2 primers 3.5535 COAL 2900 FPS @ 85°, 1563' AMSL, 28.85 Baro Shoots .254" 5 shot groups 140 Berger VLD At similar altitudes/temps to sight in above will retain 1000 ft/lbs of energy at a distance of approximately 801 yds. 7000' AMSL and 40° will retain 1000 ft/lbs of energy to about 622 yds. 150 NAB LR At similar altitudes/temps to sight in above will retain 1000 ft/lbs of energy at a distance of approximately 962 yds. 7000' AMSL and 40° will retain 1000 ft/lbs of energy to about 745 yds.

That is a GREAT dog. Don't shoot it! Seriously, you are lucky it was just one point. Mine would have eaten the entire thing in 15 minutes. No joke. That is why I hang mine up outside their area of patrol. They completely devoured 4 javelina legs, skin, hair, bones, hooves, meat in 30 minutes. Waiting patiently.

I've seen it a few times. That is why I put down shoe leather away from the roads. Because that is where the bulls are going to head when they hear these morons. Seen it for turkey too. And once for coyotes.

I would not really say I am bashing G&F. Just stating a fact of life. I just think that everyone is looking to get more money, as costs across the board are going up for everyone. Who would have thought 20 years ago that a new truck would cost $50K+??? Or 40 years ago, a new house would cost $150K+? Who would have thought 10 years ago that an AZ resident elk tag would cost $148? That was crazy talk back then. Would YOU want to work for years and never get a raise? I would not. Would you rather G&F raise the tags to $350 and offer less tags??? That would mean a lot longer time between tags too, as I don't see people NOT applying because of the price hike. And the dang e-drawing drives me nuts too. If you don't have the cash at the time, DON'T APPLY!

I plan on being there to see the facilities and discuss options. Thank you.

My work has one they might sell. It is a diamond deck tank and tool box, with electric pump. I do not know the specifics, but I do know that we just recently used it and everything worked. They took it back out of the truck and stored it in our warehouse. I can ask if they would sell it if you want.

That is cool about the antler tip. Congrats to all on nice bulls. I see great eating in all of your families' futures.

Mo' applicants = mo' money. Mo' tags = mo' money.

I am a Devils fan. I am more of a baseball guy though. I did not see the game. But you have to take the losses with the wins, even if the wins are few during certain years. It is still a good school. Both my parents, my aunts and uncles, cousins, sister, friends and my oldest daughter all graduated from ASU. None are in jail, all have jobs. ASU must be doing something right. Those are better and more important stats that ANY sports team can beat.

My brother keeps bugging me to buy this....so he can borrow it when he goes out. Cheapskate. I am torn.... Bump for a beautiful shotgun.

Have you guys ever heard of "Rifle Golf"? It is like golf, but with rifles, apparently. You keep track of shots at unknown distances until you get a hit on steel, just like scoring golf. If 3 canyons were available with 10 targets in each canyon, you could easily do something like this. Paint the steel alternating different colors and have a scorecard and walk the course. You could set up "Tee times" for 4-6 shooters starting at the three different canyons (like a shotgun start in golf tournaments) and competitiveness should keep the group from telling each other what distances they shot. I have seen this somewhere up in Wyoming or Montana or somewhere up there. Looked like a BLAST! And could keep teams rotating to keep from getting stale. Once a month would be great in addition to free shooting on other weekends. That would REALLY up chances for membership. "Hole 1: Shoot second orange target on canyon #1" Par 2 "Hole 2: Shoot first white target on canyon #1" Par 1 "Hole 3: Shoot fourth white target on canyon #1" Par 3 Move to canyon #2 "Hole 4: Shoot third yellow target on canyon #2" Par 2 "Hole 5: Shoot first orange target on canyon #2" Par 1 "Hole 6: Shoot fourth White target on canyon #2" Par 3 Move to canyon #3 "Hole 7: Shoot first yellow target on canyon #3" Par 1 "Hole 8: Shoot third orange target on canyon #3" Par 3 "Hole 9: Shoot second white target on canyon #3" Par 2 Move to canyon #1 Repeat with different targets than first round.... Par 1 can be between 100-400 yds. Par 2 can be between 500-800 yds. Par 3 can be between 800-1000+ yds. You could also have 4-6 different scorecards to give to a group so each guy is shooting at different targets per "hole". Just a thought to help build membership and increase the fun and keep it interesting, while helping improve on the go shooting at unknown distances for hunting practice.

As stated above, the same reloading press for the 9mm and .270 will not work for the 12ga. Totally different types of presses. I have a MEC for my 20ga, but it will not work with my 12ga. stuff either. MECs are gauge specific. Lee's can be interchangeable, but they are not nearly as high of quality. For rifle (and pistol) reloading, I have a Hornady single stage press, and numerous dies, scales, trimmer, hand primer, etc. About $500-800 worth of stuff. Dies are anywhere from $25-100+ depending on what and how high of quality you get. It is the little stuff that will start adding up fast.

See where this was taken? In a fresh burn. Deer love it, and even better a year or two or three or more after, as the new growth is very tender and FULL of minerals from the newly regenerated soils and ash.

I only hunt unit one for turkey anymore. In my spot, I have never seen another soul. But it is an unlikely spot, and you would not think it holds any turkeys.