Hoss50

The hiking in nasty scrub brush part came true, and a little bear drinking too. The tagging out part didn't go so well though. We saw some good clean sign but didn't see anything beside a nice Muley buck. Nobody else we talked to saw anything either. The water we scouted up 3 weeks before the season had dried up too so that probably didn't help.

Headed out to 20A tomorrow with a couple buddies. I am taking my .257 Roy but fully intend to try and use my .38 Super pistol if at all possible. Maybe we will get lucky and tag out on Friday and get to sit around and drink beer on Saturday! Doubtful though. I foresee a lot of hiking some nasty scrub brush in our future.

I had some range time today to make sure the rifle was dialed in for next weeks Javelina hunt and was able to try some more loads in my .257 Weatherby. I have been using 115-117gr rounds mostly with good success. My rifle shoots Nosler Ballistic tips pretty well, so to practice with a cheaper alternative I picked up some 117gr. Hornady BTSP's. At 100 yards the POI is very similar but I found out my rifle might actually like the Hornady's better then the Nosler. This is 7 shots from the same batch of the same load with the Hornady 117gr. BTSP's. 6 are ragged and 1 I pulled a little. The 4 holes not in the circle are from other rounds I was shooting/patterning. The squares on the target are 1" squares. The load is: 7mm Rem Mag Cases Fire formed to .257 Mag. Winchester Mag Rifle Primers 62.0 gr IMR 4831 Hornady 117gr BTSP @ 3.265" OAL

I am going to start working on a 7MM Rem Mag load to act as my backup rifle for elk/deer/everything. These loads will be running through a Browning BAR so I don't know if I can max load it. I am thinking about running in the 140-160gr area and will be using IMR4831 since I am about to pick up an 8lb tub of it. I like Nosler BT's & Partitions, but also like Speer BT's and Hornady products. This is going to be a load I want to be able to hit at 500 yrds with, and ballistics should be similar to my 257 Weatherby which is my primary rifle so it should be totally doable. Does anyone have any pet loads or advice on what they have had success with in 7mm Mag? Thanks

I would start with some decent glass and good mounts. My friend and I have been working with his 3006 out to 500 yards and even with marginal glass on his Marlin X7 with pretty good success on the 11" gong. The trigger with some good glass should be a great start.

I am in the market for a new set of binoculars. I am looking for a pair in the 8x42-10x50 area and my budget is $200-300. I went and checked out the Vortex Diamondback 8x42 & 10x42's this weekend and compared them against a set of Nikon Monarch 10x42's. I honestly liked the 8x42 Vortex Diamondbacks the best. Are there any other brands in this price range I should be considering or looking at? I am looking for a decent pair of bino's for glassing and general use for scouting and hunting. I have never had a nice pair of bino's so this will be a nice upgrade no matter what I choose. Any other products I should be looking at?

Here is the bobcat

My buddy, myself, and my son went scouting today for our rifle javo hunt in February. We had a pretty successful scout. We did not see any actual animals but we saw a decent amount of sign. We went in late because we didn't want to possibly interrupt the juniors hunt in the area this weekend. There were no hunters in our area thankfully but we made our way in. We took my 22 month old with me too for his first scout so we knew we probably wouldn't get close to anything alive because he probably wouldn't be real quiet. We drove in and check a few places and there was some sign but water is very spare right now. We hiked into our last area and found some decent sign and track. A 30lb kid in a hiking backpack with water and such in it will get me in shape in a hurry. We stumbled into a couple AZGFD live traps and one had a bobcat in it. He didn't look real happy to be in the trap but we only got close enough to figure out what was in the trap and get the trap number for the AZGFD. We had a good time and we took my son on his first scouting trip. He helped out a lot with pointing at planes and birds and such. It was great to get him out though. With any luck the info he helped us gathered today will lead us to a successful hunt.

For now the Bino budget will have to stay in this area. I have other things that also need money invested that are pressing as well for this hobby and other hobbies. I saw a pair of Minox at Sportsmans as well I believe but didn't look through them because I didn't know much about them. I have to take a peak through them when I go back.

I wanted a 4x12 on my 257 weatherby but at the time budget was the big issue so I settled for a 3x9. It works fine, but I still wish I had gotten the 4x12. Get what you want or you will always want what you didn't get. I am enjoying my Redfield Revolution with AccuRange reticle. Great scope so far other than I wish I had gotten the 4x12. I am planning on getting the 4x12 for this rifle and putting the current 3x9 on another rifle that needs a decent scope though so it will work out fine.

That is a good question, and I am honestly not sure. I will have to look that up now. It is an older Browning BAR in 7mm that I plan to be working the loads for so I will have to find out.

I picked up my 8lb jug of 4831 yesterday. Hopefully this weekend I will have the first batch of 7mm's loaded for testing. I am going to start with the 160gr Speer BT's I already own and probably try and pick up a box of 140-150 Nosler BT's or Accubonds. Thanks

I am going to try a load along these lines first since I have a box of 160gr. Speer BT's sitting here from my Dad. I am going to pick up something in the 140-150gr range soon I think as well and start working with something a little lighter like that.

Will the bolt open or is it stuck closed with the round? If you can get it open you might be able to soak the primer in something to help make sure it goes inert before you start tapping the bullet out. Is there a "safe" way, I don't know for sure but that is where I would start if the bolt will open.

A buddy of mine at work (who I actually took on his first deer hunt in November) almost gave this one a run for it's money. He caught a 73 pounder at Bartlett a few weeks ago. Those are some big old fish. We actually did a flathead fish fry during deer season one night and it was awesome. We made fish taco's with the flathead and it was great. He released that 73 lb'er so hopefully it will get bigger and be the next record soon.

I am cutting a deal for 8 lbs right now. It will kind of be halved with my buddy if his rifle likes the powder. I would use 8 lbs on rifle for sure. Pistol would much harder to use up.

I will be trying my luck in 20a in February on my rifle hunt. I plan to spend my time around Mayer. Have have run across them there in the past on deer hunts. It's not great bow territory though. Pretty rough and open.

Weatherby Vanguard in .257 Weatherby Mag. Redfield scope, nothing special. I am working up loads with 120gr. Nosler Partitions for it. It is my all around gun. I have other rifles to carry depending on the weather or area's too that are heavier if necessary.

That is exactly what I needed. Thanks!

I can't seem to find a good map or breakdown of exactly where the boundary is that breaks unit 23 into north/south for elk. There is a verbal description in the manual but I am not familiar enough with 23 yet to know where it is. Anyone have a link or map that shows it? Thanks

late rifle bull in 23 late rifle cow in 23 early & late rifle cow in 7W 2 bp Thanks!

I started out with a RCBS rock checker and still use it. It is a great press for rifle rounds and heavy caliber or odd pistol rounds that are expensive to shoot like .38 super, 44 mag, 45 LC, etc. I won't load 9mm and such on this unless I have to because it is to time consuming to make it worth while to me. Anything over about $25/box for pistols is where single stage is worth the time IMO. For rifles other then practice .223 or 7.62x39 it is all worth it. My current rifle is .257 Weatherby and at $40-80/box of 20 rounds it is worth every penny to reload. I can make my ammo even with premium bullets for half the price or less then factory ammo. If you shoot a lot of pistol get the 550 and a single stage for rifle rounds.

It is hard to beat the 7mm for easy ammo access and good performance. I shoot .257 Weatherby because I like calibers that are a little off the beaten path, but I am going to start working with a 2nd rifle for longer range hunting and it will probably be a 7mm Mag because I already have it and it will perform well.

I don't know exactly. I believe the Nosler book projects about 3100 FPSF.

I finally had the chance to shoot 500 yards with my .257 on Sunday. I was hitting the 11" plate pretty consistently once I got the hold over down. 61.0gr IMR 4831, R&P 7MM Rem Mag brass fire formed to .257, Winchester primers, 115gr Nosler Ballistic Tips with a COAL of about 3.28" This is not a max load but it seems to shoot pretty well for me sofar.