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tontotom

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Posts posted by tontotom

  2. Posted · Report reply

    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.

  4. Posted · Report reply

    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.

  5. Posted · Report reply

    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.

  6. Posted · Report reply

    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.

     

    TomSheep2.jpg

     

    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.

  7. Posted · Report reply

    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.

  9. Posted · Report reply

    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?

  13. Posted · Report reply

    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.

  17. Posted · Report reply

    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.

     

     

  18. Posted · Report reply

    "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.

  19. Posted · Report reply

    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.

  23. Posted · Report reply

    Took the long range piece yesterday with some reloads I've been working on. A couple of weeks ago it shot 1-1/8" 3 shot group at 100 yards. My 1st 2 shots were touching but the velocity was a little low, 165 grain bullets at 3200 fps. I was feeling like I might make 1/2" group when I chambered the 3rd round.

     

    The shot felt good and my hopes went to sh!t when the scope settled back on target. 2-1/2" high from the other 2. Velocity pushed to 3285, what the heck? The only difference I could find was a federal brass snuck in the mix, the other 2 were remington.

     

    I've mixed brass on .243 and .270 before without a bobble but this was crazy. The powder is IMR 4831, 74 grains. Primer is CCI magnum.

     

    Maybe I'm offbase and just jerked? Any thoughts from others who have more expirence-

     

    Thanks,

  25. Posted · Report reply

    Most people have started by getting a mouth call for a birthday present or christmas and going out and blowing it. My dad gave me a circe call for christmas way too many years ago. I kicked around and had many failures before I started to gain some confidence. In the years since I've called a lot of coyotes and quite a few foxes and bobcats. Here are a few things to consider-

    1- Predators primary sence is scent followed by sight and hearing. Important!! Most critters will approach from downwind using some form of cover. From my expirence 70% of all responding coyotes will approach from downwind. Hence, when you call try to watch in that direction. Foxes are somewhat different, if heavily called they can be as stealthy as a coyote but most of the time they just bounce in. Bobcats will come from wherever they happen to be and are primarily sight hunters.

    2- If calling bobcats movement will tip them off quicker than anything else. I think camo is essential for cats. Coyotes and foxes, not so much. Fancy camo is way down on my priority list.

    3- Sounds and making sounds can be a delima for some. I called for years with closed and open reed calls and had huge success with both. If I was just starting out I'd still go buy a couple of calls, 1 good closed reed and a couple of open reed. I like the circe (green body) calls because they are comfortable and easy to blow. I love the Tweety and Psyco Tweety open reed calls for the same reason. I also use a Critter Call Pee Wee or standard to howl. These three calls will imitate all rabbit, some coyote and some bird sounds.

    4-Pick a calling location where there's a lot of sign. Coyotes and foxes crap on the roads to mark their territory. Find a lot of little crap piles around and you've found critters. I hate wide open flat country so I don't call it. Some people do with a lot of success. I really like spotty cover to thick cover with good visibility where I can see downwind. Sneak into areas to call without a lot of noise and get comfortable.

     

    I hope this helps. I've taken a lot of people out and I'm sure if you ask around there are people willing to take you out as well. One of the better websites for calling is predatormasters.com.

     

    All of the guns you list will take predators all be it with some fur damage. Your choice if you can live with big holes and flying fur.

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