Custom Baits - Forum
General => General Discussion => Topic started by: efishnc on 09/25/21 22:56 UTC
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He started hanging around me late last summer, then got closer in the fall and even more in the winter. He taunted me this past spring (turkey season) and now I'm not sure if he is trying to help or hurt my archery efforts.
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Clearly above and beyond the rest...
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Wow, that's way cool!
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Good to have friends in high places.
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Ha! All along I bet you though that knee belonged to you. I think someone feels differently.
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That's amazing. 8) At one with nature!
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I was hunting last week without my phone (it was in the house on the charger) and I missed two fairly unique photo opps... for the first one he was perched on the lower limb of my bow between the string and riser, and for the second one he was on my arrow out in front of the bow. I'm definitely blessed to have this experience.
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Friends come in all kinds. That’s some neat pics of your new one.
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WWWOOOWWW 😁😂🤣
Nature. Is. Awesome.
Things like this almost make me wonder if getting into handloading shotshells was the Right thing to do.
Almost.
I've had squirrels infiltrate my position on hunts in a similar fashion, causing me to LMAO, and of course, I could no longer remain silent 😂
I could not contain my laughter 😁
RATS! FOILED AGAIN!
It's not always about the Harvest!
Encounters, connections, such as these should be humbling, and cherished.
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I'm glad you found a bit of joy in this post, BK... as fantastical as this seems in the second person, it is even more in the first person... my wife calls these my "Disney princess" moments.
If you haven't seen his taunting of me during this past spring's turkey season, take a look here: https://custombaits.com/index.php?topic=13434.msg100921#msg100921 (https://custombaits.com/index.php?topic=13434.msg100921#msg100921).
And, in case you haven't seen his antics from the beginning, there are pictures of him posing on my chainsaw, bow, and ATV (amongst others) here: https://custombaits.com/index.php?topic=12599.msg98005#msg98005 (https://custombaits.com/index.php?topic=12599.msg98005#msg98005)
And with all of our banter on the forum, I'm kinda surprised I didn't know you were a hunter before this. :-[
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This is an incredible story, eFish!
What a warm, peaceful start to this shift today!
Yes, I love to hunt. My fire for it burns hotter as the wild hog population continues to grow.
About me:
I'm a hunter, shooter, handloader. For myself, I handload .270 Winchester and .45 Auto. Been a handloader over 13 years, but recently added shotshell handloading to the stash.
I'm a Constitutional Conservative, I consider myself a Patriot.
I prefer IMR, Vihtavuori, and some Hodgdon powders (do have a little Ramshot and Accurate), CCI and Federal primers.
I'm very serious about brass preparation and bullet construction/performance. I know full-well that shot placement is king and bullet performance is queen, in humane taking of game animals.
I'm a fan of Douglas and Bartlein barrels.
My .277" rifle bullets consist of Barnes TTSX and LRX, Berger Classic Hunter, Woodleigh Weldcore, Lehigh Controlled Chaos (copper), Norma Oryx, and Sierra MatchKing.
I could talk about this all day 🤣
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Right on, BK-
I started reloading shot-shells back in '93 as a way to make my pursuit of waterfowling a little softer on the wallet... I tried eight different recipes, but my first was the one I have stayed with over the years. My steel recipe used the same charge bar/bushings as a popular pheasant load (though with different components), so I had my game-bird hunting covered on the cheap... between hunting ducks/geese and pheasants/grouse, I went through multiple cases per year (with one year almost topping four cases for waterfowl alone)... reloading for half price has been a huge savings over the years!
Then, given my deer hunting was (originally) in a shotgun only zone, I started reloading slugs, but this was a much harder recipe to dial in... these loads used shot-cups as a sabots (so they only worked in fully rifled barrels) and they were specific to the projectile (which I decided I had to cast myself, using two different Foster style slug molds and one Lyman/Lightfield style), so there was lots of experimenting with on this load... after about three years of testing with 40 or so recipes (and some shoulder therapy), I finally had this one dialed in as well... though not sub-MOA, it can hold 6" groups @ 200yds (which is all I ever needed). Considering all that went into this and how few rounds are used per year, I'm not sure I will have ever "saved" on this venture, but it's water under the bridge now... I also cast my own projectiles for black powder hunting (round balls, mini-balls, & maxi-balls), and as an avid hobbyist in this field, I'm a little closer to breaking even here.
Last was to be perfected was my turkey load, and this also was a challenge because I had to bore out the charge bar myself (since even without a bushing it did not throw the load of shot I was looking for)... once all was said and done, I created a 1-13/16oz tom-toppler for about 1/10th of the retail equivalent, and considering the intensity in which I chase the strolling buzzard, this load is another win.
I haven't got into reloading rifle cartridges (yet) and hope I never do.
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I've gone lead free in all of my hunting muzzies. I lean on Barnes XPBs and Expanders heavily for them. I have a .45 Kodiak rifle, an Accura V2 rifle in .50 cal and an Optima .50 cal pistol. I got all my deer with the pistol this year including a decent buck.
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Several times over the years, I came close to getting a smoke puffing pistol, but it never happened... sometimes I still fancy the thought, but I think three shoulder cannons is enough for me.
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I had the Accura out once during our nine day season. That inline pistol gets loaded hotter than a factory .44 mag and drops deer like a bad habit with a .44 cal, 225 grain XPB. Its running right around 1850 fps at the muzzle.
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This is an incredible story, eFish!
What a warm, peaceful start to this shift today!
Yes, I love to hunt. My fire for it burns hotter as the wild hog population continues to grow.
About me:
I'm a hunter, shooter, handloader. For myself, I handload .270 Winchester and .45 Auto. Been a handloader over 13 years, but recently added shotshell handloading to the stash.
I'm a Constitutional Conservative, I consider myself a Patriot.
I prefer IMR, Vihtavuori, and some Hodgdon powders (do have a little Ramshot and Accurate), CCI and Federal primers.
I'm very serious about brass preparation and bullet construction/performance. I know full-well that shot placement is king and bullet performance is queen, in humane taking of game animals.
I'm a fan of Douglas and Bartlein barrels.
My .277" rifle bullets consist of Barnes TTSX and LRX, Berger Classic Hunter, Woodleigh Weldcore, Lehigh Controlled Chaos (copper), Norma Oryx, and Sierra MatchKing.
I could talk about this all day 🤣
🇺🇸
I knew you were a good guy BKJ!
🇺🇸
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Many Thanks, Lines!
🇺🇸We The People🇺🇸
I know I'm in Good Company 🇺🇸🇺🇸
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Hey efishnc, I never got into rifle or pistol reloading either. Did a bunch of my own trap loads that saved a little money. When I was young my dad bought some shotshell reloading supplies for our duck hunting passion on the Missouri river. 4 brothers, and myself spent many, many hours reloading 12 and 20 ga. Wish life was that simple again.
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Many Thanks, Lines!
🇺🇸We The People🇺🇸
I know I'm in Good Company 🇺🇸🇺🇸
Thanks man!
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Killer, eFish (if I may be allowed a small pun)!
I'm converting everything to steel. I now have a MEC Steelmaster, 12 gauge, 2.75"/3" press. I'll weigh every power and shot charge, as I do with metallic.
Do you have an opinion on Patternmaster chokes?
2 of my 5 chokes are Patternmaster. I think the wad-strippers are a solid concept, shortening the shot string.
Ballistic Products has some primed 3.5" 12 gauge Cheddite hulls in stock, BTW.
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Thanks man!
Nothin' but Love, Lines Bro 🇺🇸
🇺🇸AMERICA🇺🇸
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Killer, eFish (if I may be allowed a small pun)!
Killer indeed... many, many, many times over!
Since you asked, I'll give you my conclusions on shotgun reloading (and, by extension, shooting).
I don't think weighing powder and shot charges will ever merit for any 'standard' scattergun load, especially if you are planning on doing a fair amount of shooting. Simply put, you cannot pack the shot pellets with the same precision in every load, so there will always be some inherent variability within your pattern... perhaps using some specific stacking shot (like Winchester blindside) might be a way to get around this, BUT then there is the problem of "fliers" spinning out of the pattern because the pellets aren't round (which is why high end lead loads use a buffer to prevent pellet deformation).
The randomness of patterns mentioned above also plays into chokes... pattern consistency (for any given diameter of choke) is based more on length of taper than anything else (longer tapers are better). However, I would guess 99.9999% of birds not downed (within range) had little to do with uniformity of pattern, rather they were (primarily) due to poor shot placement (i.e. shooting behind, above, below, etc.) or (secondarily) due to an incorrect choke application for the task at hand (i.e. being too narrow or too wide)... I know 'a guy' (AHEM, ahem) that forgot to change out his improved cylinder from the previous fall and was scratching his head when he was not putting turkeys to rest the next spring.
As we have discussed elsewhere on the forum, the hunter/fisherman that plays to his/her points of confidence will almost always perform better in the field... so, experiment, have fun, and find what works for you.
(*It should go without saying that a print test of slug loads will prove the benefit of individual weighing, so I'd definitely give the nod on being fussy if/when you load these.)
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Roger on all that!
What I've gathered, with info on shot production/manufacturing, I lean toward thinking the "lack of precision" in making the shot could lead more-open patterns due to "minor" variations in shot weight and shape, but that's very debatable.
I'll have to go through the component shot as I go through each shot charge to see if I can detect any notable variations in individual shot weight, to determine whether or not "true precision" can be obtained (within reason).
My years loading .270 Win. lead me to think this way (respectively).
Quality ammunition is my true end goal, of course. I work 28/14...I have the time.
Low Extreme Spread variations (pressure) do provide us the luxury of "pushing the pressure envelope".
One of the major details in my intention is light shot charges. I do hope this venture isn't a lesson in futility, despite the few opposing opinions I've read (randomly).
I have a 10-lb. sack of F steel and some 0.375" carbon steel ball bearings (1000 count) that I may get a shop to anneal to dead-soft. The 0000-buck steel could potentially be used as a light load of buck in the thick stuff.
I'm new to this shotshell stuff 🤣
It's not as cut-n-dry as metallic! 🤦???
I plan to load what I might use to be able to eat, not so much as to continually harvest to help me avoid buying meat commercially. I don't need a heavy stock every year.
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In the early 70's I shot three trap leagues and reloaded a lot. I also had pheasant and goose hunting to load for. For the league shooting I had to use factory rounds but the practice stuff I loaded for. I shot 100 rounds of practice each night. Some of the wads made for excellent pattern while others were miserable. Reloading costs then higher ammunition costs chased me away from the sport and, trust me, it was painful to leave it. The reloading for pheasant and goose took me down some different paths. One was a goose load. I liked #2 shot lead for the geese but loading it was challenging when it came to getting the shot to drop cleanly. Loader seemed to be jammed constantly. Then I discovered lead T-shot, larger than #2 and smaller than #4 buck. I could get 55 pellets of it into a 3" load stuffed into a 2-3/4" AA hull. Using my 32" trap-full barrel I could drop geese easily at 90 yards. At 40 yards all 55 pellets were in a 30" patterning circle. When the steel shot law came in I quit all bird hunting and so ended my shotshell reloading.
I loaded 7mm Mag for several years when I hunted western mountains and I loaded for 220 Swift when the fox pelt market went sky high too. Now I hunt with only muzzle-loaders.... more like a center-fire rifle than a shotgun slug and a whole world more accurate. In the last couple years I have taken more deer with my inline pistol than rifles.
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Yes Tom, I agree, those were the good old days! Did a lot of rabbit, duck, and pheasant hunting back then.
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I remember as a kid, we had a Western Auto store in town that would break open boxes of shotgun shells so we could afford to buy them individually with our paper route money. Won't see that happen again. Great times.
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We had an Imperial Station here that sold individual shells. The good-old-days. lol
Back when I was bird hunting I bought a 30 cubic foot freezer just for birds and deer. Beef, pork and chicken went in another one. In a good year it was nothing to have 125 pheasants shot in 4 states in that freezer. I used to smoke a lot of them and give them out at the holidays.
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I liked #2 shot lead for the geese but loading it was challenging when it came to getting the shot to drop cleanly. Loader seemed to be jammed constantly.
In the late 80s MEC introduced a larger diameter drop tube to prevent "bridging" of bigger shot sizes on the way to the shot cup (they offered the tube as a replacement part for their older reloaders already/still in service as it became standard on their newer models), and in the early 90s they introduced a cushioned edge on the shot side of the charge bar to eliminate binding... both of these innovations made reloading large shot sizes a breeze.
My standard waterfowl load is 1-1/8oz single B steel (one size down from BB)... like BKJ, I did a lot of reading and calculating to engineer the "perfect" load, and my performance tests validated what my numbers revealed beforehand. There is always a cross-over between pellet energy and pattern density for each specific game, and when found it can be pure magic (as you had with your goose load), but neither of our webfoot loads would fare well for doves.
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I remember as a kid, we had a Western Auto store in town that would break open boxes of shotgun shells so we could afford to buy them individually with our paper route money. Won't see that happen again.
Yeah, back then every gas station around at least carried .22 shells... and now you cannot return any ammo to any store (once purchased), even if it was never opened and you never left the store... what happened?
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When I was 13 my father took me down to the local sporting goods store to buy my first shotgun. ( I had saved up my money from mowing lawns and fur trapping etc) The salesman asked my dad if it was ok for me to purchase shotgun shells. Dad said sure and signed a three by four index card which the store kept on file. (Had about fifty cards from all the local farm boys). Fridays after school there would always be a half dozen bicycles parked out front of the store- kids inside buying shotgun shells for their saturday hunt. The store would break open the box of shells and sell them to us for ten cents a shell! The limit on rabbits was five, pheasants were two so everyone tried to save up and buy five shells (fifty cents ) for the weekend.
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Thank Every One of You Men for sharing this information and all those memories!
I knew this was a solid idea 😁
#4 steel and #1 steel will be my staple but with all things handloading, there's always room to grow.
Fast, light loads of #1 steel through the Patternmaster CB Waterfowl/Goose is what I intend to put on rabbits, but the patterning board will have the final say.
I will keep the bigger shot for several reasons. Penetration and being easier to find to remove are two.
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Lighter loads = higher velocities = less stringing
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I can’t get any reloading expendables like powder, bullets, brass, and primers. When will it end?
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I can’t get any reloading expendables like powder, bullets, brass, and primers. When will it end?
I'm guessing 2-3 years (hopefully) when our "world market" gets back on its feet... a relative scarcity incites a relative panic, resulting in over-buying/hoarding which then creates actual scarcity (though the actual panic does not escalate as rapidly as the scarcity)... think of the .22 shell shortage of a few years back, it was insane for awhile, but generally bounced back (with some price increase).
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I'm guessing 2-3 years (hopefully) when our "world market" gets back on its feet... a relative scarcity incites a relative panic, resulting in over-buying/hoarding which then creates actual scarcity (though the actual panic does not escalate as rapidly as the scarcity)... think of the .22 shell shortage of a few years back, it was insane for awhile, but generally bounced back (with some price increase).
I always laugh when I hear about a 22 shell shortage. I own a company that installs alarm systems in homes. I see so many customers that have thousand and thousands of rounds of 22's in their homes and are complaining that there's a shortage. I had one customer that had so many cases in his spare bedroom that they busted through the floor and landed into the basement. Then you get a dad that just wants to take his kid out back and teach him how to shoot goes to the store and they're all sold out. I believe if guys were not hoarding them then there would be plenty to sell and the price would go down.
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I can’t get any reloading expendables like powder, bullets, brass, and primers. When will it end?
I'll PM you 👊😎🇺🇸
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I always laugh when I hear about a 22 shell shortage. I own a company that installs alarm systems in homes. I see so many customers that have thousand and thousands of rounds of 22's in their homes and are complaining that there's a shortage. I had one customer that had so many cases in his spare bedroom that they busted through the floor and landed into the basement.
I can see having a couple thousand because the 500 packs are relatively small (which I don't even have a full one in my house), but the crazy thing is I can't imagine how many boxes/rounds your client had to break through the floor... simple math says at 5lbs/box it would take 40 boxes (or 20,000 rounds) which compares to a 200lb man or piece of furniture that could be on the floor indefinitely, so I would say the dude definitely had more than 20,000.
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Primers 'n Powder 'n Brass, OH MY 😍