Coach

That's awesome. I've tried grunts before with no success - congrats, and thank you for your service!

Wow! That's just amazing. Huge congrats finding bulls like that on the late hunt and getting these guys on them. Fantastic job and huge congrats all around.

That's an awesome bull, especially for a late hunt.

Nice!

Awesome job sticking with the trail and finding that amazing buck. True hunter right there.

Merry Christmas, and congratulations on a stellar buck. Making a shot like that, let alone passing so many bucks takes a lot of dedication and patience. I'm very happy for your hard earned success.

I've been reloading quite a while now for quite a few different rifles with a lot of the same characteristics. I've experimented with a lot of different powders over that time as well and keep coming back to what appears to be as close to "universal" powders as they come. At the low end, I load for 25-05, which is essentially a .270 with a smaller bullet. At the top end, .300 WSM (.300 Wby Mag for years). I'm always intrigued by the variety of different loads in the different manuals but pretty much everything I reload for seems to cluster around IMR 4350 - H4831, with some variations. In both powders I've heard H4350 is exactly the same as IMR4350, same with IMR4831 vs H4831 vs H4831sc, with the minor exception of shape and size of the granules. At the same time, I see a lot of people who love Alliant R19 and R22 and Varget for the same types of guns. The cool thing about reloading is that you have almost full control over all the variables that go into making your gun shoot just right. But the variables seem almost overwhelming at times. Even if you know what brass, powder, bullets and primers your gun likes, tiny things like 47.5 grains vs 48.5 grains or a few thousands of an inch in the COAL make a huge difference. Won't get into all those topics just yet, but just wanted to know what powders have given the best results from the reloaders here.

I've had Harris bipods on my rifles since I started hunting coues a long time ago, and they are really good for the most part. Sometimes it's tough to get exactly level if you are on uneven ground - I've even tilted it up on shot on one leg which isn't ideal. On my latest youth hunt I took along a borrowed tri-clawps. If you can handle the extra weight, these things are amazingly stable. You can adjust to any height, get perfectly level and the rifle is balanced at the center point. I'll definitely be carrying one from now on. I like to carry a shooting stick for quick stuff, keep the harris mounted for times when you have to get prone or sitting fast and the tri-clawps for long range shooting when you have time to really get set up for a 400+ yard shot.

Awesome job, Scott, and fantastic write up. Huge congrats and thanks for sharing the stories here.

After a couple rainy, windy days with very little deer movement, Nick put this guy down at 400 yards with one shot.

Those are awesome packs. I finally upgraded all 3 of my sons to that pack because it does it all and has a lifetime warranty, regardless of where you bought it.

For sure, PM Shedhunteraz.

Best glass ever. That's a newer model. Great deal for someone.

I just want to see all these giant bucks you guys are talking about. I've seen the bundy buck that was around 290 but where are the rest? I don't do facebook so let's post 'em up!

Just got a pic of Brec Bundy's strip buck. What an absolute toad. I don't have permission to repost the pix but that buck has it all and then some.

I'm thinking that Nosler is putting out some wildcats that they can market as high performance rifles similar to what a custom shop would build. The 28 Nosler is interesting in that, as Lark pointed out, just a 7MM mag. It's a non-belted fat brass. So Remington put out the RUM family built on the 404 Jeffery case necked down. Had some success but nobody really flocked to them. In a lot of ways the 28 Nosler is like a 7mm Ultra Mag in terms of brass and powder capacity. Getting rid of the belted cases might make it easier to reload but certainly not cheaper. Brass will cost around $2.70 per round - just the brass. Remember when nobody wanted to shoot Weatherby with factory ammo because it cost $50-$70 a box for premium Weatherby ammo? So in my opinion, the 28 Nosler is a way overpriced 7MM Mag. The 26 Nosler is even more interesting. I've been loading for a 6.5x284 Norma with a wide range of powders. Typical loads are around 47 grains in IMR4350, H4831sc, etc and it's considered a barrel burner. The 26 Nosler uses 72 - 92 gr. of powder. You get 3-400 extra FPS but at what cost? I'm old, so FPS means little to me. I want accurate. Blowing 80-90 grains of powder behind a 6.5 bullet to get some extra velocity seems contrary.

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.