Coach

I guess LR is subjective. I'm a new 6.5 groupie and just love that round. My newly-built 6.5 284 Norma is so far the best rifle I've hunted with. My buddy just got a 26 Nosler. My other go-to rifle is a 300 WSM that can do just about anything.

This is a great thread. I've been hunting all over AZ most of my adult life and branching out to NM. I have 3 sons and try to get them tags wherever I can. Sometimes I end up with tags in areas I don't know much about and ask for help - usually on this forum. So many people have come forward and helped out, it only seems right to share. The "Pay it forward" mentality. It's one thing to find a honey hole, blab it, then complain when you show up at the end of the line. At the same time, it can be very rewarding to help someone out who doesn't know where to start, give them some pointers and let them succeed or fail based on how they use the info. I've had spots ruined not by telling anyone where they were, but just by putting up success pictures here. I've also had areas I was very secretive about get ruined when someone stumbles on them and then tells everyone. I actually have a good story on that for later. My take is, I want to help people out who are less experienced and need a starting point. But there's a lot of people on all these threads who just want to get info, and have to intention or ability to give back.

That hose head pretends he can't smile.. he can. lol.

I've been building a 6.5 x 284 Norma off a Savage 110 action. Starting completely from scratch, I rebarreled the Savage action with a Shilen heavy sporter. When mounting the barrel I used Nosler unfired brass to set the headspace. I got to where it was tight using unfired brass, and no-go with masking tape on the back of the same brass. But when I ran once-fired brass through a full length RCBS resize die, they wouldn't seat. I determined that it wasn't the case length, but the start of the shoulder that was the problem. Just tinkering around I also found that if I shaved around 10/1000 off the #3 shell holder and cranked the resizing die as tight as I could, I could get the resized brass to cycle. The die I'm using is for 284 Win, which is the correct die according to RCBS, Redding, Forster and others. So the question is, is my headspace too tight? And if so, why does it load unfired brass and factory loads with no problem but has an issue with resized brass?

We've got a fellow member up there right now going fully DIY. Here's hoping he can make the best of a great year.

Man some awesome bucks right there. Great job. That last one has some serious mass.

I'm a huge fan of the Garmin GPSMap 60csx. Fantastic GPS unit, great battery life, fast satellite acquisition, nothing I don't like about these. My son has the Oregon and battery life is terrible.

Great bucks! Major congrats. I'll be taking my sons to NM over Thanksgiving week to hunt Ft. Bayard. I hope we do as well as you guys did.

That's freakin' sweet. Calling a cat into shotgun range. Definitely a bucket list accomplishment.

A little update on this. I've fired a few rounds out of my gun and put them back through the resizing dies with a standard #3 shell holder, and they all cycle perfectly. The gun we shot the first few out of was built by a local gunsmith. The ones that were tight in our builds had no problem in that rifle, but the ones fired from it had issues resizing. I'm thinking the headspace on that rifle is a little loose.

My guess is you hit him high up over the shoulder if he hunched up. Flesh wound.

Sorry you didn't find it. A long time back I was hunting with a buddy in 23 and we jumped a buck. He shot it just as it crested the hill above us, and we both saw it hunch up. We found absolutely zero blood. Thankfully, we found the buck about 10 yards from some really nasty thick stuff, about 45 yards from where he was hit. He had a drop of blood on his nose and another on beneath his body when he fell. Had he made it just a few more steps, I doubt we would have found him. It was a quartering away shot with Nosler Partitions and it passed through like a lazer. One small hole on each side and no blood trail.

I was a long time Cabela's fan until they went public. Now it's just MSRP on everything with less customer support than the old days. Thank goodness Sportsman's Warehouse came to Lakeside. Between them and Amazon and MidwayUSA, I have no use for Cabela's or Bass Pro. I think the major stockholders are responding to their inability to compete online and the expense of those stores.

Good point - If it's on FB I doubt they mind it getting out there, lol.

Nothing fake about that buck. Those brothers have taken lots of clients on hunts for so many years, it's about time they got to hunt.

Love it! Thanks.

Very awesome buck, and great story. Sounds like you guys have some awesome glassers too. Huge congrats to your daughter.

Thank goodness for Sportsman's. They recently opened up a store here in Lakeside and it's just awesome. I can buy brass, powder, primers, and occasionally 22LR ammo - all with a good selection - stuff you can hardly find online.

Could be interesting this year. The last two winters were really mild and there were lots of birds. There's supposed to be a lot of snow this year - we already got our first taste of it in Lakeside a couple days ago. Hoping the winter kill isn't too bad.

If you have to ask, you can't afford it. LOL.

That is so awesome. Mt. Goat is on my bucket list, and honestly, before this post I didn't even know they were in Utah. Great job and thanks so much for sharing. I would love to hear the story.

Glad to know I'm not the first to have major issues getting the red out.

I just picked up a pound of this powder at Sportman's this weekend. According to Nosler, it was the most accurate powder for the .300 WSM in 175/180 gr. bullets. It's supposed to burn between H4350 & H4831. Most of my handloading is for .270 WSM and .300 WSM and my 2 favorite powders are IMR 4350 and H4831sc, not only for those calibers but for .270 win and 25-06. I'm just starting to work up loads for a couple 6.5x284 Norma rifles and I think this powder might be a great blend there as well. Just curious if anyone has any experience with this powder.

Thanks for the responses. I've got some loaded up, just waiting for the scope to come in.

Here's our pumpkin carvings this year...