Hoss50

If it where me I would setup camp somewhere along the bumble bee road turnoff and work south of that road near cleator. Or that is at least where I would start looking for scouting purposes. I have not hunted 20B but I have hunted the north side of that road before in 20A which is where I usually try and draw a tag for javo.

I loved the Smarty I had in my 98.5. It was great for lowend and midrange power & torque. Madselectronics.com If you want more power there is the edge comp box as well or the TST Powermax 3. Either can be stacked with the Smarty to have dual programmers, but you will need good supporting mods to do that. Make sure you have the supporting mods necessary for the power level you are after though.

Sorry for the novel, don't read it if you don't want to. I know it isn't a bull, but I am still excited about it. I was able to close out my elk hunt with success and this was my first solo big game animal that I have harvested. 4 of us drew our cow elk tag this year and we have been excited and putting in as much scouting time as possible to get ready for the hunt as well as getting to the range to get ourselves and rifles dialed in. We ended up harvesting 2 cows and we should have had a 3rd but 1 of our buddies went full on buck fever and couldn't get the shot lined up. He is pretty new to hunting and this was the first big game animal he has ever had in his scope. We split into 2 teams of 2 for the hunt mostly and it seemed to work well. My best buddy and I sat water opening morning from before light to about 9am. We then punched hills and brush til about noon. We went back to the trailer for lunch and then headed out to check out a spot I had found on the map to see if it was viable or not, it wasn't. By the time we started working back it had started to get really windy with winds probably 15+ gusting higher. With the direction of the wind our evening plans were wind broke so we called an audible and went to another hole we had liked before season but had cooled off in the weeks prior to season. We hiked into a long distance partially obstructed viewing range of this waterhole and sat for a few minutes trying to assess it. As we are glassing I get a text from my other 2 man team. "we might have 1 down". I texted back and said "let us know". After a few minutes 3 elk moved out from behind an obstructed area into view. Our hearts raced, but we were in a bad spot. We had little cover to work with to get closer and we were probably 600-800 yards out. I dawned my camo burlap hunting poncho that I had made before season to use as breakup and hopefully manufacture some cover. My buddy and I split up and he worked right and I worked left. He got to about 475 yards and ran out of cover so he went prone and started low crawling and got into about 425 yards but couldn't get closer without blowing his cover. He setup and waited on me. I didn't have much cover initially and moved low and slow with my poncho that I affectionately referred to as "Clint Eastwood". After about 125 yards of going slow I got to a small draw that helped me make up another 100 or so yards at a quick pace. I only had a small stand of juniper that was between me and the elk that I could use to stay in there blind spot and I continued moving. I would peek out every so often to make sure they were still there and they were so I kept moving. I had done some rough range finding before season and I knew a specific set of bushes was about 300 yards out from the hole and I used that for reference. I moved in and finally got to the stand of juniper and moved in as close as I could. From where I finally got to I estimated at 180 yards, but the only way to get a shot was to crawl out into open view. I set my rifle up on its bipod and slowly crawled out behind it. I had to calm myself because my heart was RACING. I slowed my breathing and got on target. They were facing me when I crawled out so I had to wait what seemed like forever until 1 turned broadside. I put the crosshairs on target and squeezed. The 257 Weatherby barked and the 2 lead elk ran about 25 yards and turned back to look. I MISSED!!! or so I thought. The stopped quartering away and I put the crosshairs back on her and squeezed again. She stumbled and fell down!!! I waited for my hunting buddy to make his way down to me and I told him she was down! I got a text during this process that our hunting buddies did in fact have 1 down and they were requesting help to get her loaded. I declined and told them they were on there own as we had our own elk to deal with! I got up to her and my first shot was right on the money, and the 2nd shot was pretty darn good too. Now the work began. Thankfully we could get the truck right up to her but it was windy and cold and light was fading fast. I chose not to gut her right on the waterhole as to hopefully not keep game from coming back on the rest of our hunt. We had a set of ATV ramps in the truck and ATV so we tried to drag her up the ramps. No joy. We got her butt about 1/2 way up and that was that. We had to muscle her the rest of the way in and hauled the mail back to camp to get her gutted an skinned. Right as we get her on the trailer to start skinning our other team showed up with elk #2 and we were up for quite awhile getting our elk dressed out. I took her into Casey's in Flagstaff the next morning and she hung at 225lbs. Our other hunting team put their cow elk down at 350 yard with 168gr Bergers out of a 300 Win Mag, 1 shot that did not exit. My shots actually were 260-280 yard shots as I didn't take into account they were about 60 yards behind the waterhole. I put 2 shot from my 257 Weatherby with 115gr Berger HVLD's. Neither exited but both penetrated well. The neck and front shoulder from my second shot had some decent bloodshot in it, and the near side lung from my first shot had a hole the size of a quarter in it. I didn't find either bullet but I wasn't really looking either. Thankfully my rifle was sighted in for 225 yards and the 257 shoots lasers to 300 yards. The other member of the 2nd hunting team had an opportunity the next afternoon at a waterhole but this was his first time with an animal in his sights and he buck fevered and couldn't get steady enough to take the shot. We hunted all 7 days and this was the last opportunity we had. The elk went totally ghost after day 2 of the hunt. This is the only real picture I have of our elk. I am the ugly dude in the middle.

Does anyone know much about the stevens 66? How do you tell which varient you have? 66 66a 66b 66c My wife's grandfather passed earlier this year and my mother in law has his old stevens 66 .22. I am trying to figure out which variation she has to get a couple parts for. Harley

Get her fixed. I love my mini. It isn't as accurate as an AR but is more reliable like an AK.

Fire form some possibly. I make all my 257 weatherby brass from 7mm Rem mag brass. I know Randalls in phx typically has Remington 300 weatherby brass in stock for sale by the piece. Harley

My 7x57 mauser has iron sight adjustments to 2000 meters so I should be able to get out that far no problem on 8" steel gongs right...

I work in Tolleson, I see you live in Litchfield. If you want to meet for lunch or something and talk truck and take a look at what I am running and let me show you some pointers I would be more than happy to. I love to talk Cummins if you have not figured that out already.

Do you have gauges? If not you need that BEFORE anything else. Then get an air filter setup. I would do a BHAF with outerwears personally on your truck, cheap and effective. You need to know what your EGT's are if you are towing with any mods especially a chip or injectors. More fuel means higher EGT's. Towing above 1350* for a consistent stretch is dangerous for your motor and if you tow at too high of an EGT you could LITERALLY melt your pistons. You also need to know your lift pump fuel pressure. A VP44 which is the injector pump for your motor won't live long if the lift pump pressures are to low or if the lift pump dies. If that happens the injector pump itself is over $1000 just for the part to replace. Does your chip have a boost fooler? What is your boost pressure? Without gauges you won't know. If you are running on the high side of 40psi of boost you are risking blowing a head gasket. Another very labor intensive fix that is easier to prevent than cause. If your towing with more power and extra power you should look into at least valvebody mods and billet torque converter to help keep the transmission alive along with a trans temp gauge to monitor the temperature. If your lift pump is dead or dying you should look into a better upgraded lift pump like a FASS. Your fuel pressure gauge will help you monitor the lift pump. If the lift pump dies the VP44 is soon to follow. If you upgrade your fuel pump make sure to upgrade to a 2 micron filter setup to get good clean fuel to the motor. I have the Edge CTS monitor in my 2005 ram along with an analog gauge for fuel pressure and really like it. I have a stick shift otherwise I would have added a trans temp gauge too, either digital in the CTS or analog. Either works. I had 2 analog gauges in my 98.5, fuel pressure and EGT. I didn't need boost because my SMARTY box wouldn't push enough power to drive boost past about 33psi even with the wastegate bypassed. Once you have gauges and an air filter setup go tow whatever you tow. If your EGT's are not too high then think about a different chip or injectors. Too much fuel IS a BAD thing. I did 60hp injectors in my 2005 cummins and I towed with it last weekend. Even with the programmer turned to stock I still had to back out of the throttle because I could drive my EGT's over 1400* which is bad news. I need to modify my exhaust and see if I can lower EGT's enough that way. If I just went balls to the wall without gauges I probably would have really hurt my truck pulling up the Camp Verde grade at 1400-1500* EGT. Harley

What do you have so far along with supporting mods, and how much power do you want? Do you tow?

Do you have a programmer yet? If not start with a Smarty and if you feel froggy stack it with a tst. If you tow and have not upgraded the exhaust and transmission/clutch start there. If you don't have mods yet start here. If you have not done everything before I listed injectors you probably don't need injectors yet unless there is something wrong with them. Gauges (egt and lift pump pressure minimum, boost, trans temp if you have an auto) Exhaust Bhaf air filter Lift pump and 2 micron fuel filter Programmer Trans/clutch upgrades Stack programmers and or turbo Injectors and or turbo Harley

6.5-06 ackley is what I plan to build someday. Maybe 264 win mag if I use an existing rifle that is chambered for a mag bolt face. If I get real froggy I might do a 6.5 weatherby when I shoot my 257 weatherbys barrel out which should probably happen in the next couple years. All of these would be throated for 140gr bergers.

I loved my 98.5 24v and wish I would have kept it as well as getting my 2005. I should have used it for my beater truck. It was a great truck. Hindsight 20/20.

I did it for myself because I had my buddies help. I would prob do it again if I had too but I wouldnt chance messing up someone elses truck. If you need a shop to do it I can recommend a couple good ones. Are the injectors bad, and has that been verified?

google this. cumminsforum 24v injector replacement On their website the valve lash adjustment article is in the tech article section under 98.5-02 tech articles.

also adjust your valve lash while you are in there. that will help out a fair amount too. Cumminsforum has come info on replacing injectors and valve lash, but I can't copy and paste them for some reason. They say injectors are a 3/10 job on replacement. Be very careful with the injector tubes and torqueing them and correctly installing the brackets that hold them. Those little brackets are very important. They help keep the injector fuel supply tubes stable. If you don't use them or don't put them back on right you can run the risk of the tubes vibrating and cracking. I believe the #4 tube is also known to crack on its own so search that and possibly replace that tube anyway when you are in there.

search cumminsforum.com They have a great write up on the 3rd gen injectors and I bet they probably have one for the 2nd gen too. I did injectors in my 2005 cummins. It isn't terribly hard if you are mechanically inclined but I was fortunate enough to have my diesel mechanic buddy help me out. The main thing is don't cut corners, keep everything CLEAN, and torque specs are important. I think injectors on the 2nd gen trucks are easier then 3rd gen. I know they are cheaper. Harley

Awesome

I have not changed scopes yet. I couldn't bring myself to pull off the Redfield Revolution I have been shoot for awhile because it was dialed in and I had an elk hunt in December that I was going to use the rifle for. I will still probably change to the Vortex just to try it, but I REALLY like the Redfield I have and the reticle in it so I am torn. Just an FYI, as trphyhntr said though the 257 is a laser. I shot my cow elk at what I thought was about 180 yards. It was actually about 260-280. I have the rifle sighted for +/- 225 yards and both shots hit her basically exactly where I aimed and hoped. The first shot hit her as well as you could possibly hope for behind the shoulder and she ran about 25 yards and looked back at me. I hit her again quartering away and hit her right behind the shoulder again and the bullet lodged in the opposite side front shoulder. Now that the hunt is over though I am probably going to get the Vortex with my upcoming bonus check and give it a shot.

Out of curiosity, what bullet weight, caliber, and range were you shooting at? Harley

I like the SST's. I have shot them pretty well in my 257 weatherby, and I just started working with them in my 6.5x55. They shoot well in both rifles. As long as I can get the SST to provide a good load it will be my go to bullet for that rifle. If not I may play with the Berger VLDs and see if it will shoot those well.

No dice on getting tagged out. Thank you for the help though everyone. They turned into ghosts after the first 2 days of the season. We hunted hard so we have no regrets. We still went 2/4 on getting tags filled so it was still a great trip.

I am in 7e right now on the late cow hunt. Myself and another group member tagged out on Friday evening but we have 1 more guy we need to get tagged out. We are not having much luck getting back on the elk. Any thoughts? We are in the northern part of the unit. Harley

Tikka or Weatherby vanguard. I love my vanguard and even with a bipod it isn't very heavy. My hunting buddy has a Tikka and it shoots really well too. I have been sub .5 MOA with my vanguard and handloads. Harley

I'll be on a hill with my buddy trying to get him tagged out so I will watch for it. Harley