Schmitty

Unless you look at it through a borescope, you'll never know. You'd have to take the rifle to a gunsmith with a borescope who knows what he's looking at in order to get a fair evaluation. I'd just tell the guy how many rounds are down the tube and how you've shot the rifle; rapidfire, etc. Chances are if it's a military type rifle it's got a chrome lined bore and there won't be much for throat erosion, unless you've put 10K rounds down the tube at full auto. Hope this helps, Schmitty

Cabela's had a couple of Matrix's a few weeks back. I've got a dark horse I'd sell if you want to save a few bucks. I really like it, but I just got a big bill from the taxman so I need to scrape up a few bucks. good luck. Schmitty

Hey Catclaw you are so deaf I figured you couldn't hear a gun go off anymore! So why worry about a brake!!!! As for they scope smacking you in the face, I've never had it happen to me, but I like scopes with ALOT of eye relief. I've seen guys at the range w/ some pretty high magnification scopes creeping awfully close to that scope bell and all I can think is OUCH! as you just know they are gonna get whacked. The brake looks awfully well made and I'm glad it working out for you! I hate shooting next to guys who have them, but they sure tame those big thumpers. Good luck with your rifle. Schmitty

I saw 4 mule deer bucks last weekend all in velvet, but the two I saw tonight were hard horned.

Personally I let the opening day crowd get out and pepper all of the baby birds and don't start getting serious about chasing the dogs until mid November then we get after them a couple times a week. My old fat pointer is a very good Gambel's dog LOTS of birds shot over her, however we've only been down to chase Mearns once in a down year. She didn't know what to make of those clown birds, so no promises as to how she'll perform. I'd like to get down and chase Mearns for a couple of 3 days this year. I've got a big wall tent w/ stove that comfortably accomodate 3 guys for a couple of nights that I'd be happy to share if anybody is interested. I'd say shoot for either 1st week of Dec. or after the 1st of the year when it's good and cold in the evenings and a guy can enjoy some quail breasts and venison steaks grilled over oak/mesquite coals. Heres hoping for hot barrels! Schmitty

Who did the work? Any projections as far as torque/HP? 2 bolt or 4 bolt main? New heads? I've got a 72 4x4 suburban that needs a new motor, but the new motor has to have sufficient torque to haul the burb and trailer up hte hills, so I was gonna build me a stroker. No generator here, but I've got a few rifles I'd trade away. Schmitty

Jay, Why don't you stick an arrow thru him so we can all know the score for sure! He's a dandy, now go out and find him! Good luck on the hunt! Schmitty

I just got back down the hill from Unit 8. Lesson learned, buy a fall turkey tag as I had two toms at 20 yards with bow in hand. It looks like half the board will be heading up to 8 for the elk hunt as will I looking to fill my 1st AZ bull tag. If you haven't been up there in the past two weeks it is WET, WET, WET up there. There is standing water everywhere! The forecast looks to be dry over the next week, but I'm not sure that things will dry out by then. Good luck to all! Schmitty

As the name of the post implies, which is your preference? I've always shot w/ my left eye closed, and find that I'm a bit more precise on close shots w/ one eye open. However, back it up a bit, throw in some shadows, 3-D targets, etc. I find that with both eyes open the much larger FOV allows for much faster sight acquisition, positioning, etc. with no real significant loss in accuracy. I often find myself keeping both eyes open to settle in on the target and then close the left eye once I've got my "spot" picked out and settle in and let her rip. Just curious as to what everybody else was doing? thanks, Schmitty

I like IMR 4350 with the 100 grain bullets and use H4831sc with the 110's and have had outstanding results with both out of my 25-06. However that gun shoots pretty much everything well.

The shilen stainless barrels are lapped, both grades, while the standard chromoly barrels are not lapped unless you pay for it. Looks to me like you've got a chromoly barrel. Hope you get it shooting! Schmitty

What a monster, who's got it all; length, mass and symmetry. Truly an incredible bull! Now that you've got some free time on your hands you guys can head south down to 8 and find something similar for me! (I'm all packed up to head up there tomorrow for my 4th scouting trip, If I saw a bull even close to that toad I don't think I'd be able to come home) Once again congratulations to all involved. I'll actually agree with Casey on this one and I think the bull should be mounted in velvet. What is the actual process with a velvet bull? I imagine the velvet needs to be stripped down in order to be officially scored. I know there is reproduction velvet, but my understanding is that typically the velvet is "tanned" or preserved on the antler or freeze dried. How's it going to work out with this bull? Just curious. What a big son of a gun! Abslolutely awesome! A big congrats. Schmitty

What can you tell us about the 22-250? Make, model, barrel length, condition, etc. thanks, Schmitty

Unit 31 late Nov. here we come!

If you've got any pics of a sasquatch sized man scouting those tanks, I'm sorry! I've got the same tag as you've got and have scouted out 30-40 of them in the past few weekends, so while I didn't notice any cameras (I wasn't exactly looking up), I'm sorry if my ugly mug appears on your memory cards. good luck! Schmitty

Every tank in 8 already had some semblance of a blind or two built on them already. You can save your $ and your back and go ahead and spruce up an existing blind. Many of them are in pretty decent shape already and have been there for years and all of the critters are already used to them. Pop something new on a tank a week before the season and you might raise the alarm of some smart critters.

Is this what we're talking about? http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/disp...temnumber=41427

What a great weekend! Thanks again to Lance and Carrie's family for providing the great meals and putting the event on and it was great to finally meet everybody there. My 5 year old girl is here standing next to me looking at the pics and wishing that she had went. The archery shoot was a blast even though I blew up an arrow or two shooting at 100! I did finally make it over to unit 8 to scout a bit. I wish I had the camera as I was heavy into the elk on Sunday morning. The coolest being a large nursery herd (40+) of cows and calves that I watched for a good 15 minutes at 70 yards. One of the old cows finally figured me out and started barking like crazy at me. They never did spook, I just slowly backed on out of there. I saw a few smallish bulls and a few other cow groups as well, but the main thing was that I was able to hike into alot of new (to me) country and get a better feel for certain areas. Once again, it was great meeting everybody and we're looking forward to next year! Craig

It looks like I'll be able to make it. Lance, please let me know what I can bring to help with the effort. Looking forward to it. Craig

SOLD!

Casey, Did you buy that out at the swap meet in PV? I've never been out there, but there is a fella who always has a couple of his knives in the display case at PV archery on consignment that I've heard sells his knives at the swap meet on occasion. I can't recall his name, but he lives out in Chino and all of the knives that he's made look pretty nice to me. Any name on the blade or sheath? If so maybe I can dig up some info as to the maker and metal type. good looking knife, go work an extra shift or two and pay for it! Schmitty

I'll take it I'll get down to the valley sometime in the next week. If I remember you live down in QC. Any chance we can meet up in central PHX? thanks, Craig

How tight are the better archer's groups (consistently) at 80 yards? I need to go to a tournament or two and watch some of these guys in action. I'm just asking as I'm a very average shot. I usually shoot 4 shot groups at 60 yards (longest I can shoot w/ my current range setup) and I'd say the (average) spread at the widest point in my group is usually around 6". Some times I can suck them all in together and other times I pull a shot and get a flyer. I'm sure that there are guys that can shoot better groups consistently at 80-90 yards than I can at 60. Shooting 5 shot groups at 500 yards prone with a harris bipod, my groups at 500 yards are usually in that same 6" range, In theory, my archery shooting at 60 yards is equal to my abilities with a rifle at 500 yards. Despite the bullet traveling another 44o yards, it will still impact the target before the arrow would at 60 yards. The bullet would also hit the animal long before the sound arrived unlike an arrow. While living in CO, I flung a few arrows at antelope at the 65 yard mark using my old noisy setup. Those goats would put 2 body lenths between themselves and the arrow by the time it finally arrived. With my new setup (much quieter and faster), the results might have been a little different What does this rambling really mean? For me, my personal limit shooting at animals in ideal conditions tops out around 50 yards with a bow and around 500 yards with my rifle and personally I'd trust my abilities with the rifle at 500 (given a solid rest and minimal wind) over flinging a stick at 60 yards. There are certainly guys out there who are so skilled that there is no ethical/moral dilemna with them shooting at extended distances. (Depends on how you define "fair chase" I guess.) I think that the real danger with LR hunting becoming the new "fad" is that alot of young/inexperienced hunters watch these videos/shows or read on the internet where folks are killing animals at extreme distances. Rather than sharpening their skills with the gear they already own, they think that all they have to do is go down and buy a .300 ultra and a ballistic compensating scope and that they too are ready to roll at long ranges. Just my personal thoughts, Schmitty

Well, I got a package in the mail today from Coues Sniper containing a couple of FOB's to try out. Thanks Kevin! First impression regarding these things is that actual markup must be 10,000%, but that's business and Paul isn't going to put gas in his car selling these little jewels for a nickel I had a few unfletched shafts laying around and the best thing these FOBs have going for them is how quick and easy they are to install. I've got an old JoJan single fletcher and it takes me 15 minutes minimum (if I'm rushing things) to fletch a single arrow and then I won't shoot it for another day. With the FOBS you just pull out the nock and pop them on the shaft, push the nock back in and you're good. I know these FOB's are really supposed to shine with broadheads, but I don't have a very good broadhead target so I figured I'd try them out with a couple of field points just to get a feel. The first thing I noticed was when I drew my bow, the FOB pressed up against my chin which was kind of annoying, but it didn't seem to affect accuracy. The arrows shot a couple of inches lower than the same arrows fletched with Blazers. I wasn't able to shoot at any real distance as my neighbor's jackAzz kid parked his van right in my shooting lane at 40 yards, so 35 yards was the farthest I could shoot. I shot spots at 25 and 35 yards with no real accuracy difference between the FOBs and the Blazers. The Blazers were a bit more consistent, but that is more than likely the indian and not the arrow. The FOB's seemed to fly with just a hint of noise. A tad more noise than the Blazers, but certainly quieter than feathers. However, I did notice that the nocks were coming loose on about every 3rd shot w/ the FOBs. The nocks weren't popping off, just backing out a 1/8" or so. It was happening with both arrows, so it wasn't isolated to a single loose nock. I decided to shoot 2 shot groups at 35 yards and I smacked the FOB with arrow #2 so I didn't get much of a sample to really test, though it's tough to argue with the results. However, unless you've got real deep pockets or you are a horrendous shot, I wouldn't shoot groups with them under 60 yards. My initial impression is that I'll most likely stick with vanes as I didn't like them pressing into my chin and I like the more "traditional" look of vanes However, I really didn't get to fool around with them as much as I'd like and I'm going to order up a dozen to play around with. I want to try them out with some big nasty old broadheads that I've got laying around at further distances in windy conditions to see how well they really work. I think they are a bit overpriced at $2 a pop (shipping and tax included) for what they are, especially considering how easy they are to break. But that's probably just jealousy that I wasn't smart enough to come with the idea! I'll try a little bit more experimenting and try to develop a more solid opinion. Thanks again Kevin for sending me a couple to fool with! BTW, I have been on the search for your brass and primers with matching negatory results! take care, Schmitty

Kevin, Have you called Bruno's? They stock both nosler and norma brass. Casey, I thought that we had banned you from Mecca! What are you doing heading up this way? take care, Schmitty