tontotom

When I was working up a load for mine I wanted a lot of speed and a bonded bullet. I tried 150 grain accubonds and they just wouldn't fly. The 165's shot a lot better, 74 grains of IMR 4831, magnum primers and the bullet just seated to fit my magazine (Model 70 SS with 26" barrel)yielded 3250 fps. I got tired of the kick and tried a lead sled. Accuracy fell off. Off the bags I could get a 3 shot 3/4" group and with the lead sled it opened to 1-3/4". I like the gun and it did well last year, an elk at 405 yards and a barbary sheep at 425 yards. I hope you find your guns sweet spot. The 150 grain bullets started flying good when the speed (chronographed) was around 3000 fps. Not exactly magnum performance!! I worked the 165 grains up to over 3350 fps without pressure signs but the groups didn't make me smile. When I backed off a little is when they shrunk down to acceptable.

Here is one thing you need to know about Unit 1- it's good and sometimes even better but there isn't 380 bulls behind every tree. What I've done is picked the type of area I like to hunt and scout there. Good bulls are in every area but I'm assuming this to be a 330-340 type elk. What the last few years have been like is slow until the last week of the hunt. If you really want to hunt screaming bulls focus on the last week. This might not be the best unit in the state but the habitat ranges from cedar to aspens. I love it and wouldn't hunt any other unit. Quality areas would include Escudilla, Greens Peak, Big Lake, PS, Sipes Wildlife Area, Pole Knoll, Pool Corral, Black River, Boneyard, North Springs, Vernon, Green Spot, Rudd Knoll, Pat Knoll, Nutrioso, Alpine Divide, Greer, Baldy Wilderness, Red Hole Draw, and so on, and so on.......... Point is there are a lot of places to hunt and I haven't even mentioned my favorites. Good Luck and hunt hard

I'm just cleaning, weighing and separating some new brass. Out of 100, 60 are pretty good. I've uniformed the primer pockets and cleaned the flash hole. I now have some questions: 1- what primer? I have large and magnum. Does this stubby case need a magnum primer? 2- I have 130 grain berger VLD's and IMR 4064, 4350 & 4831 powder. Any prefernece? 3- I have Savage 11 with 24" 1-11 twist barrel, anyone shot thi combo before? Accuracy? Velocity? Thanks in advance-

I guess as I read this I get the feeling you were overspending on your optics and that bothered you in the field. I can't think of a situation I'd rather have a pair of Nikons instead of my Leicas. I've used both and for me it's not even a consideration. Not that the Nikons are bad, it's just that I feel better with the Leicas. The biggest difference to me is the clarity you easily dismissed. For you not that important, for me way important. My eyes are old as well as my legs, my belly is a little oversized so I might be exhausted after a day of hunting but my eyes don't hurt. Some guys buy cheap sunglasses because they can't justify loosing $200 pair. Not me, Costa's all the way for these eyes. This may not be what you were asking for but it's my opinion. I'll never part with my more expensive glass and won't ever discount those who use less expensive optics.

Sent you a PM on this.

There are many great cartridges for 600 yards. The 308 comes to mind, military uses it for that type of range. The 300WSM should fill the bill for any situation you might find yourself. One thought about using the same stuff as your brother. Each gun usually has loads made for it's individual likes. If you get this far, keep your tests separate. A fire formed case for one rifle may not fit in another.

We were on public land. A lot of people hunting both the public and private in our area. A lot of scouting is necessary to find multiple areas to hunt. One never knows who else has your secret spot when the hunt starts. I never saw another hunter scouting but when the hunt started we were all over each other.

Thanks CW for the long range help. I recently bagged a barbary sheep in New Mexico at 450 yards. Cold snowy hunt but a sheep hit the dirt. 300 win mag, 165 grain accubond right up the texas heart. Rest was a yucca cactus which worked rather well but cut the crap out of my hands. equipment report- eberlestock X1. Very compfortable and the gun was accessable. Cons- water bladder will freeze solid when exposed to temps less than 10 degrees all day. Snow will pack in the gun barrel if the gun isn't taped or the weather cover isn't used. Shooting sticks aren't as stable as yucca bushes. Leica rangefinders won't read 500 yards in blowing snow. Nikon Monarch mildot scope is bright, fogproof and works great. Having practiced to 600 yards I knew exactly where to put the dot. Sheep meat is not edible. Barbary chaps are cool looking on live sheep but loose their luster up close.

The rifle is a Winchester model 70 classic with the big claw extractor and positive feed. It's in a Boyd stock. I had heck with the factory stock forend contacting the barrel. I wish I'd have spent the extra money on a Stocky's. My son-in-law has one and the finish is much better. The Boyd has 3/16" barrel channel clearance which looks goofy. That said the action is bedded with accraglass and the rifle is capable of 3/4" groups. It has a really thin barrel which heats up fast with each shot. It might not be Lark's farkiller but it works well enough for me. Jim- they act way more like goats as well. We watched some on opening day eat the green and dead stalks off yuccas. The part they wanted was 5' high and they stood on their hind legs to eat, pretty amazing. Also, one would usually stand watch while the other grazed. They switched roles seamlessly as well.

The meat is so tough it needs to be ground into burger so such. It is really dark with a lot of sinew through. The sheep was fat but they store fat like a deer, on the outside of the meat. I raise black angus cattle so my tolerance for rank meat is low. Also, I killed an elk in November that isn't too bad and I have a freezer full. Hey Chef, let's see your sheep.

Anyone hunt the small herd of eastern whitetail in New Mexico? I'm wanting to harvest one without paying texas trophy fees or hunt behind a fence. Thought it might be a good hunt for next fall.

I'm thiniking of putting an aftermarket barrel on an action I have that is blue. Will there be any galvanic corrossion problems with dissimilar metals? I'm sure it's been done before, how long would this last before it rusts? Also, how do ER Shaw barrels compare to other custom barrels for accuracy? Never done this before so I'm full of questions.

I thought your question would be "do they all come in downwind?" Answer- 80% do so setup to look crosswind or downwind. What I've noticed in my area is that really good areas for coyotes can be hunted hard. When some are taken out others will quickly fill the void. Marginal habitat not so much. This is a really good year for pup survival and food. That said, it doesn't hurt to give the area a break for a couple of weeks while you search for other honey holes just as good. Also, the quickest way to spoil a super area is to show it to others people. Good day calling for sure- way to go.

Hey, I have pictures by those bronzes!! Durango train depot I believe. Happy holidays, merry Christmas and let's talk Barbary Sheep. Just over a month to opening day.

Maybe at Salt River the finishing and reheat are 2-1/4 chrome but at TEP I can assure you they are Stainless Steel. This is what prompted my question. We have to weld a dis-similar metal union between the two metals to prevent galvanic corrosion. You must know I would never question your knowlege of your plant but stainless (316) has a much high heat tolerance in high temperature and pressure applications than chromemoly. So what kind of thin barrel does "Farkiller" have?

Thanks to all for the reply, even you Lark. Chrome moly had many good qualities but it doesn't hold up to heat like stainless.

The taste isn't much different. The biggest problem with bad tasting meat is how it's taken care of after the kill, the size of the animal and how much killing it took to get the animal down.

Anyone use one in the field yet? Are they in the stores yet? Just wondering if they are worth the extra $$.

Good luck on getting your permits back. Hopefully reason will prevail and things can be fair. I do think that letting landowners have tags to sell undermines the idea that the animals are managed by the state. That said I'm sure that tags provide a huge % of the incentive to keep the land private and not break it up into 40 acre parcels like is happening in Arizona. The issues aren't simple and the best you can hope for is a voice in the fianl outcome. Again, good luck in your fight.

Thanks for the offer but I live in the white mountains. Let us know what you think of the unit.

I'm interested, how much weight can it take? What size of ball does it take? Brakes on 1 or 2 axles? PM me if you wish. Tom Anderson

Really what we are talking is legally accessing "our" public land which happens to be checkerboarded. Too many would be controllers try to limit or refuse access to public land. New Mexico has some strict laws for tresspassing so I suggest reading the proclaimation as it outlines these rules. That said, where public land intersects public roads cannot be legally posted and access cannot be denied. You might not be able to drive into the land but you can park on the side of the road and walk. From there if you have a gps with land access maps keeping on public checkerboard land shouldn't be too much of a problem. In Eastern Arizona a landowner sent out notices that none of his ranch could be hunted because he controlled all the access points and moving accross corners is tresspassing. It looked very official and had some notations from a law office. Only problem is in Arizona private property must be legally posted, not just the exterior but all private land. Of course this isn't practical so there is a lot of posturing and bluffing going on to try and keep people out. I don't condone tresspassing on private property but I'll be damned if someone who controlls the grazing lease on public property is going to keep me from hunting. This is my land and I won't be denied.

"Solid 300 class" Ya, solid in the 330-340 bull. It's hard to tell just how long the main beams are but that is a nice bull. Too many guys think that there are 400 bulls around every tree which simply isn't the case.

I bought a Crony Alpha and for the money I love it. It's easy to keep the distance constant as it has a phone cable that allows the electronics to come up to the bench, about 15' is what my manual said. I think I've found my load now for my 300 win mag. 74g 4831 (IMR) pushes 165 grain Accubonds at 3250 fps with a max spread of 15 fps. I shot a 3 shot group at .7" this morning. On my way to this load I tried 5 different bullets and 4 other powders, not cheap but I really want to work out at 600 yards with this rifle. I was able to get 1.125" goups with other combinations and this one as well. I felt like the gun would do better and listened to a couple of guys who load and shoot thousands of rounds a year. Here is what came about- 1- new stock, Boyds laminated thumbhole glass bedded 2- new ammunition, I was shooting Federal Blue Box 1-1/2" groups 3- chronograph to find out exactly how fast the loads were traveling 4- practice in the field and on the bench Some of the loads were impressive on the chronograph but not on paper, some were good on paper but wild on the chronograph. Of all the things that helped trim the last little fat off these loads was done with the brass. I weighed them all, sorted 40 keepers out of a lot of 100, trimed the flash holes and primer pockets and these will only be used in this gun from now on. I still need to do a lot more shooting but I'm happy with the continued progress. Whitetail in October, Elk in November and Barbary Sheep in Feb 2010. This gun will do them all.

I bought a Nikon Monarch 4x16 mil dot and I love it. It is really clear and I'm getting the hang of the mil system. I like the 40 mm objective.