recurveman

I hunted 4 of the 5 weekends down south this January. Sat water mostly and only saw one buck and doe together and that was the weekend of the 16th. Also when I was driving to and from I saw many, many does and not one of them had a buck in tow. Last year was really weird too. Guess that is why they call it hunting.

So, here is my rule. If I go south of Phoenix I carry a handgun. If I go south of Tucson I carry a handgun and a long gun. There are desert units that you can hunt that wont have illegal activity.....well at least less illegal activity. The local street corners have illegals on them but its different than running into them in the field. Typically north of phoenix will have very little illegal activity. I've run into many drug runners, illegals, and twice I've run into guys that weren't from the US that had black guns. It does give you an rush that is much higher than hunting animals. Typically they won't try and kill you. If they shoot at you it is just to scare you. Keep you distance and you will probably be fine.

Does your current barrel shoot good? Who said you should replace your barrel? My .243 has throat erosion. The gun probably has 500-600 shots down the tube and I'll probably never shoot the barrel out. If the gun shoots fine I would keep shooting it. If you are worried about iron sights I'm guessing that accuracy isn't your first objective anyways so keep the current barrel. Even a barrel that is shot out will shot good enough for hunting in most cases.

everything will get back to normal......

Hey chicken little...... The sky isn't falling. Everything will be fine.

Then reloading isn't for you.....unless you want to drive tacks at 1000 yards. But then you would shoot more than 4 bullets a year to obtain that type of accuracy.

Not sure where you would buy ammo. My guess is the ammo will be back on the shelf before the components will be. Plus, I'm guessing you don't need 7MM ammo until next summer at the earliest. You will find it before then if you keep searching. I've got a buddy that has been looking for BR-2 primers for well over 2 months (daily searches) and hasn't been able to find any. Powder doesn't last very long either. Sometimes you can walk into Bruno's and find stuff but that is hit and miss. My solution is pretty simple. I buy enough components for the life of my barrel once I find the load I like. So I might buy 1000 bullets/ primers/ enough brass and powder to make 1000 rounds....depending on the barrel. Then I've always got what I need and typically I don't have to mix and match lots. Powder will vary between lots and I don't want that issue. So in your case. I would buy that much ammo and be done. Sounds like a bunch but I've never been disappointed with buying a grip of ammo/components all up front. I had this same problem before.......it won't happen again.

If you are just looking for ammo then I would just go buy the ammo and be done. Finding components right now is about impossible. Then it will take a few times to the range to find the load that works for your gun. finding primers and powder is really, really tough.

Let me ask you this question. What are you trying to accomplish with having someone else to the reloading?

I watched a buddy blow up a .243 because he used the wrong powder. The gun was stripped for usable parts and that was that.

Honestly.....after seeing first hand a few guns blow up from buddies reloading practices. I would never trust a friend to do my reloading. I'm not even concerned about accuracy but just safety. I can tell you that when you put a fast burning powder into a cartridge designed for slower burning powder.........Well lets just say it gets exciting really fast. Do it yourself or don't do it.

I have a lone wolf match grade barrel that converts a glock 23 into a glock 32 so you can shoot .357 sig ammo. I'm selling this as a package deal. Barrel hasn't had 50 rounds down it and is great shape. I have 9 boxes of 50 rounds per box of ultramax ammo in .357 sig to also sell. Asking $350.00 for everything. Not willing to separate. Chad 480-510-4384.

TTT

TTT

I have a 2018 pioneer and it is absolutely awesome machine.

I have a Suntactics solar charger. Never brought it into the field. Bought it about a year ago. Asking $80. Chad 480-510-four384

sold

I have a goal zero nomad 7 solar panel. Also included is a flip 10 battery pack. Took the flip 10 in the field once and the solar panel has never left my house. Asking $50 for both. Chad 480-510-four384

sold

The only thing that gives me any concern is where the recoil lug goes into the stock. You would need to bed that so it was a snug fit. The butt of the stock isn't a big deal. I've done that before to decrease the weight or to even add weight to make the balance of the rifle the way I want it. It won't hurt the function of the stock. The barrel channel should function fine too (if the barrel clears the stock). If the "look" bothers you then you could fill it in. I'm guessing he was trying to lighten up the rifle or was looking to add a material to stiffen the stock. Either way I don't think it will hurt the function and I don't think you will be able to see the issue once the action and barrel are installed. So, either fix the current stock (should be cheap and easy) or go by another stock of your liking. I've modified more than a few stocks to either add lead for weight or other materials to stiffen stocks. Fairly standard once you go down the path of making "custom" guns.

helped a wounded warrior sheep camp this year. Not my story to tell but it was a fun hunt!!!!!

So this is an easy solution moving forward. I always buy the number of projectiles that I'm going to need for the life of the barrel when buying a new barrel. Not going to tell you how many bullets I have (that I bought years ago) for my 6.5 and .308. This isn't limited to bullets either. I buy enough primers, powder, bullets all at the same time once my load is established. Then I don't have to worry about it until I get a new gun/barrel. I realize that doesn't solve your problem today but that is the solution moving forward. Then everything matches too.

TTT

Has anyone on here actually done this hunt? I've got a tag for one of the units and I'm going to head that way in September to accept my official physical and mental beating for a couple of weeks. I've got the gear, been training for this for 1.5 years and this adventure consumes most of my days. As you know if you have looked into this hunt finding any info is a challenge. Please PM me if you can help. Thanks,

What part of "been having great success with 143 ELDX's" are you struggling with? Keep killing stuff. Don't fix it if it isn't broken.