forepaw

6.5x55 AI forepaw

There are four words to keep in mind when dealing with the National Park Service: you - can't - fix - stupid. forepaw

That would be Ten-X Campground. forepaw

Yeah, tell me about it. I let my left-hand Hoyt go for way less than it was worth. My Allegiance is staying with me however. Your price is fine, in fact low with the arrows and accessories. Someone will be getting a lifetime bow for 1/3 the cost of a new one. Bowtech still supports the Allegiance with parts and accessories. I changed from the speed modules to the smooth modules, and boy did it make the bow more shootable, and only lost about 6-7 fps. Someone will be very pleased to get your bow! forepaw

The Allegiance is a great bow - forgiving to shoot, blazing fast, light, durable, accurate, reasonably quiet. Not as many bells and whistles as current mfg. models, but still a classic. forepaw

This. "Anyway, I have used the compass enough to trust it, so I just kept going and found the vehicle". forepaw

You should always disinfect water from backcountry sources. Filtration is just the first step (though some units do add a low level of chemical disinfection using a silver iodide compound which eventually becomes depleted). It is easy to do and provides a significantly increased level of protection that will allow you to keep hunting effectively. Just carry either fresh, unscented household bleach (add 5 drops from an eyedropper per gallon, let sit for 1/2 hr. before drinking) or use Iodine tablets from REI or wherever you shop for outdoor gear. Same deal, 1/2 hr. contact time and be sure and rinse the threads and cap of your containers with the treated water. It is pretty hard to find a pristine water source these days. Polio, hepatitis, multiple types of enterovirus, and others, are still with us. forepaw

Man you are LUCKY! I have dumped dozens and dozens of rounds, never a problem. Somehow, the compound had to be crimped hard between the cup and anvil. I would notify the primer mfg. of that event. Send lot #, date of purchase, etc. forepaw

Well you have a nice shooter and a true piece of history. It is a pre-war, not quite original, but still might fetch a premium $ from the right person, as those years basically produced hand polished and hand fitted moving parts. If anyone doesn't believe it, just have a careful gunsmith take one apart, and then try to put it back together!. That old gun has many years of carrying and shooting left. Also, I believe some of the M 12s in 16 ga. were a smaller frame size than the 12 ga. guns which makes them much handier for long walks on the desert for quail, or jumping ducks off stock tanks. It is fascinating to read about Depression-era Winchesters, if you can find any books on that topic. Some of the Sr. citizens at gunshows can be good sources of info as well. If you can find a copy, I highly recommend "The Shotgun Book" by Jack O'Connor. It is some of the best writing ever done on sporting shotguns. Good luck. forepaw

I am a fan of M 12s, especially 16 ga. Picked up a 95%+ (like new) condition w/ plain barrel, 28" mod., average wood, last year, paid $650. Think I paid about $100 too much, at least in terms of local prices, but checked Blue Book value, and it was exactly $650. If you have or can borrow a current Blue Book of Gun Values, that would be the most authoritative and probably cheapest way to appraise value. forepaw

You may want to consider new bows that are discontinued or last year's models. Have you considered Athens Archery? They are a small company in the Midwest and make extremely nice bows. They may have some leftover limbs and risers they can put together for you at a pretty good price. Bowtech might be the same. The quietest bow I have every heard was a Bowtech Prodigy. Don't know anything about how they shoot, but they are quiet. forepaw

The other part of the story is the M 70 Featherweight in .243 was a neat little rifle, compact, smooth, lightweight. The Rem. M 722 was a good rifle, nothing wrong with it at all, but the 26" barrel and plain-looking stock made it a little bulky and awkward. It was not quite as sharp looking and handy as the M70. And as you mention, the M 70 was made up with a 10 twist, which shot about everything well, and the 6mm used a 12 or 14 twist, and could not stabilize heavier bullets. Folks wanted to use their rifle for varmints in the off season, but also be able to shoot accurately with heavy bullets for deer. Same problem occurred with vintage Savage 99s in .250 - 3000. The new ones are barreled with a 10 twist, and are good with a number of bullet weights. The older rifles are twisted 1:14, and shoot 87 gr. bullets well, but throw heavy, long bullets all over the place. I have had 100 gr. bullets keyhold at 25 yds. Still, the 87 gr.is pretty decent for most shooting with that round, and exceeds the 3000 fps spec. that was originally intended by Savage. forepaw

First Choice Archery Auction on e-bay is good. I also have a friend (long time AT user) who buys and sells a lot of bows, and has done so for a long time. What are you looking for? forepaw

I have a VX-6 w/ turrets, but not sure if it is the former, or the new/improved. I don't consider them horrible, but maybe I am missing something? forepaw

Howdy bigsky2, You have a great tag, so don't let your opportunity go to waste! You are somewhat incorrect re: state trust lands. You need a "permit" to access and recreate on state lands, but a valid AZ hunting license fulfills this requirement. Re: designated campsites, I don't believe this applies to state lands, though it might in some cases. As far as USFS lands, there are travel restrictions and they are pretty onerous, at least they were when I camped on the Coconino in 2014. You will need to get a travel map from the forest service in Williams (Kaibab NF) to make sure you know the boundaries for dispersed camping and what the road rules are. The tickets are $$. As far as campgrounds, I don't know of any except near towns - Seligman, Williams, etc. Kaibab Lake has one, that is a USFS operated, but it is on the extreme E. edge of your unit. The Big Boquillas Ranch may be your best bet, but you will need to do some e-scouting to come up to speed on that. There are a lot of posts on this forum which will be helpful, and also a lot of current knowledge which will be most helpful. You may want to start with a Flatline map as well as USFS and BLM surface maps. That will get you oriented in a general sense. If anything I have written is incorrect, it is unintentional and if other posters will set me straight, we will both appreciate it. forepaw

Which Tikka? Must be a CTR w/ the 20" bbl.? .260 or 6.5 CM? forepaw

It is pretty easy to figure out if you go to the Tikka home page. The improvements are listed. Mostly they are variants (or the same) as the after-market parts offered by Mountain Tactical of Bozeman, MT www.tikkaperformance.com. At one time I knew all the upgrades that comprised the T3x, and thought about the advantages over the T3, if any. To me, they are mostly sales-appeal oriented, and almost but not quite, cosmetic. The interchangeable grip panels struck me as being just goofy. The stainless bedding lug sounds nice, I doubt if it offers much over the hard aluminum lug. The enlarged ejection port will make it easier to reach in and fiddle with cartridges, clean the chamber and throat, etc. I still don't think you can load into the detachable mag. from the ejection port, and this is a drawback of the design, though a minor one, as spare mags are easily carried.. The steel bolt shroud is also sort of a nice to have cosmetic item. There is nothing wrong with the high-impact plastic shroud, but folks like steel stuff which I can understand. The receiver scope mounting holes have been beefed up and this is probably a good thing, with the huge scopes that get mounted on lightweight rifles, but I have never had a bit of problem with the scope mounts on the two T3s I own. The improved molded "checkering" might be a slight improvement, or it might not. The hollow stock has apparently been filled with sound-deadening foam, which I did to my T3 as soon as I got it, and it helps a lot. Last but not least, Tikka claims to have a new, improved recoil pad on the T3x. This is no doubt an improvement, as the best thing to do with the factory pad is take it off and throw it away, and buy a pull-on Limbsaver pad. The small pad fits great and works well, and shortens the stock so that it is most useful when you have a jacket on and are wearing a pack - which you would expect to do with a rifle primarily intended for rough country and mountain hunting. That's about all I can offer. I haven't owned or shot a T3x and don't have any frame of reference for how much better they handle or shoot. Probably they are no worse than the T3, and if they are better, then I would expect them to shoot very respectably. Whichever you end up with, you should consider changing the OEM trigger spring for a Yo-Dave kit. It will improve the trigger, which is already pretty decent. forepaw

Stainless action and barrel will not be a problem. The finish on Tikka's is very low glare, almost a bead-blast finish. You can always cover with some camo tape. The worst glare comes from the polished bolt handle, which does not to be covered or painted. forepaw

I had to order mine from Whittaker Guns. They had a few both R and L hand, and also the best prices. Budd's Gunshop also had some. forepaw

That's a pretty nice package. Already set up defensive/practical pistol shooting. I know some shooters prefer the Gen. 3 over the Gen. 4. forepaw

100% agree. Good info. The twist in my barrel is 1:8, but it might not be enough for that long bullet with the moderate velocity of a 22" 6.5x55. Mr. Kenyon claims very good accuracy from his .260 Rem., which is not significantly different in terms of case capacity, but suspect he has a longer barrel. forepaw

Guys, Has anyone had decent results seating Barnes bullets with a 0.005 - 0.008" jump? I know the conventional wisdom is to start out seating from 0.030 - 0.070" off the lands and one or the other is generally predicted to be the sweet spot, or close to it. I have two loads for one rifle using the TTSX that I am jumping 0.060" with good results. A common claim is that 0.050" is a good all-around jump. I am currently using the .264 127 gr. LRX, and after having tried a couple of powders, primers and seating depths (0.027, 0.050, 0.059), I am not any better off. I was thinking of seating it just off the lands to see if it would improve accuracy, but with all the knowledge on this forum, thought it would be worth a try to ask around first. Cal. is 6.5x55. My match load uses the Nosler 140 gr. Custom Competition (jumped 0.025") and it shoots very well, but I am looking for a hunting load. Thanks. forepaw

Thanks to all for info. L Cazador, you have been at this a long time! But if you are like me, there's always something new to learn. Believe I will drop back 0.5 gr. and load some just off the lands and see how that does. I really want to use one of the Barnes bullets for hunting- the TSX and TTSX are good, but the LRX is the most efficient. At least while it's in the air. Thought about just loading a Berger Hybrid for both competition and hunting, but my hunting loads tend to be just under max., and it's nice to be able to shoot matches with something a little less aggressive. Still an option however. forepaw

www.advocare.com forepaw

Budd's Gun Shop on line has decent prices on Tikka mags, last time I checked. Occasionally Midway will have them on sale. forepaw