lancetkenyon

My 12 year old daughter and I were scouting for her elk hunt on Thanksgiving which started the next day. I plan on hunting New Years Day for sure.

You can call Chris Krueger @ Krueger's Creations in Phoenix. I talked to him 2 weeks ago, and I believe he has a tanned medium 17-18" neck desert mule deer cape. 623-582-0237 Quick question, why did you not keep the cape from the deer?

John McClendon. I believe he is a guide in AZ, and an awesome one too. Coming out of "Mohave County", I would bet it is a Strip buck. Congrats to John. Beast of a typical. I have also laid eyes on a possible #2 P&Y velvet Coues from this year. Good year for AZ deer and hunters. And some people think the quality of game is declining in AZ....

I am building a 6.5 SLR, very similar to the .260 Rem ballistic-wise. I plan on shooting out to 1300+ at steel, and looking at the projected ballistics, I would have no issues shooting at deer out to 1K providing conditions are perfect. The 140 Berger VLDs have incredible BCs for the weight. I am also planning on another build in a year or two for my daughter, looking at a 6 CM, 6x47L, or similar, more for shooting LR and some medium game hunting. I sure wish Berger would come out with a 125-130 .257 VLD. Then I would just sling those out of my .25-06 Ackley.

I guess I will start one for my 12 year old daughter, Taylor. She just started her big game hunting career in 2014. Javelina-1 Bull elk-1

Red, white & blue Santa delivered me a package last night.... You can see the 6.5 SLR modified case is formed off a .243 Win case Normal .243 Win case next to the 6.5 SLR modified case Of course, even though it was late and I had to work today, I had to go size at least 3 cases....I guess I will be prepping cases over the holidays!!! The 3 on the left are new 6.5 SLR vs. .243 Win case on right.

Nice! Love an accurate rifle.

I don't know about that. Even at $45/box, it would take quite a while to save money with reloading. I have loaded probably 10K rounds, and I might be breaking even about now....but my savings go into other upgrades (don't tell my wife). To the OP: Just because components are slightly cheaper, the equipment is a lot of money to get into. Press, dies, trimmer, and scale are all necessities. Add the cost of the niceties, trickler, powder throw, plates, case prep tools, high end seating dies, hand primer, etc., and the costs go up and up. Plus, high end components are not cheap either. Bench rest primers, powder, quality bullets, higher quality brass are all getting up there. I would think around $400+ for 200 rounds to start out just in components. A savings of $50, but add the cost of equipment, and it skyrockets. Add the cost of your time to load if you really want to. You can take about $200 off that initial price after you shoot the first 200 rounds by reusing the brass. But unless you shoot a LOT, it will take a while to go through 200 rounds of .257 Roberts. But cost is not why hand loaders get into it. It is the ability to tune loads for velocity and accuracy, ensure precise measurements are made in powder charges, seating depths, case prep, etc. Even with match grade ammo (which costs more than standard if/when it is available), a decent hand loader can get better results from a finicky gun by trying numerous powders, weights, bullets, seating depth, primers, etc.. But again, with trying 4 different powders, it get pricey really quick. I would say loading for my AR is about on cost with cheap factory ammo if not more. But I don't see factory 55FMJ giving me 1/4MOA accuracy with the way it is made. You would not believe the lack of quality control in super high mass produced stuff. I pulled apart 200 factory military rounds. Seating depth was different up to .120" alone, and powder charges were off by over 1 full grain with a 25gr. base average (24.0gr. to 26.1 grains). My varmint loads are thrown, and I check every 5-10 rounds on a beam scale. I would say they are all within 1/10 of a grain. My 69SMKs are individually weighed, and it shows. As others have said, hand loading is relaxing, and the pride in working up a super accurate load is worth the effort. Knowing you have a consistent cartridge is money in the bank.

I will buy my family's licenses on Dec. 31st. Wife, two daughters, my brother, and myself. I would buy my Dad's but he doesn't hunt anymore. Bums me out. I had a LOT of great times hunting with him.

PM returned.

Sold

MIke.....you know that New Year's Resolution we were discussing? It ain't 2015 yet, so hurry up!!!

I don't know if I would say it has been a GREAT year so far..... More like a PHENOMINAL YEAR OF A LIFETIME!!! Amazing animals. Good luck on the Coues hunt.

Nothing looked HUGE to me either, but 2 mature pigs. The one that wandered off screen, and the one in the back would be the two I would try for. The two front pigs looked younger, but still adults. Old boars have longer snouts, and you can sometimes see the cutters on them. The pigs my daughter and I took this year were both old boars out of two different herds (out of three herds we scouted) on the same hillside. One had almost no teeth left, so was getting up there in years. You can definitely tell a size difference between an old boar and a young adult when they are together.

In my varmint loads, I have used Remington and CCI 400 & 450 SR Mag primers as well when starting out with no apparent different (the 450s were a little hotter, about 40fps) velocity of POI. Groups remained similar too. I just try to buy one type of primer, and have gone with the CCI BR-4 since I bought 1000 when I first started, and I can usually find them fairly easily. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

I would say around 181" gross, 173 5/8" net. Just a guess. Amazingly beautiful buck. I love the big 3x3 frame, great mass and deep forks on the back, nice kicker, tall, and I would think around 27" inside spread? I would have shot that bruiser in a heartbeat. Did you get an age on him? 5 1/2 to 6 1/2 years?

These are the closest thing to the Swarovski ELs I have looked through. Right on par with them in my opinion. Amazing price for these at $1950. If I was not 80% into a rifle build, I would buy them in a heartbeat. Good luck with the sale....or maybe not. That way I could save for another couple months and buy them!!!

My boys again, waiting for some well deserved treats...

I see some great eating in your next couple months!!! Congrats on 4 great deer, and better yet, great times spent with family.

So if you want to get the camo I have for free and pass it along your cause, feel free to PM me. I would love to see it go to some youth who will use it. Also, it might be a good idea to start a new thread and get it stickied for a "donation" area for youth hunting opportunities.

I can tell you the .257 Roberts is an OUTSTANDING deer/medium game cartridge. With hand loads, it will open up a whole new world for available rounds. I am a fan of the 1/4 bore, but with that being said, bullet selection is limited compared to some other calibers. But, what are out there are great. I like the Berger 115gr. Berger VLDs, Sierra 100gr. Match Kings, and the 100gr. Barnes TTSX myself. All are proven game takers from coyotes and javelina up to large bodied mule deer. They would slay a Coues with ease as well.

How old is your son? My biggest concern would be the lack of a safety for use by a kid. We all know safety starts with the shooter, and it is a mechanical device that can fail, but I would want one for a kid. As for price, without seeing photos and a little more info, it is hard to tell. I think Vowell is on the right track. Maybe $300.

Not bad at all! Nice shed.

Tile or shingles?