airedale

I have just one firearm that has been finished with the Duracoat finish and it has held up very well so far, It was taken care of by the now defunct Gander Mountain's gunsmith. I think if I had a beat up firearm I would give the DIY Duracoat finish a shot myself, I have done a lot of stock work finishing over the years and enjoy working on guns in general. From the youtube videos I have watched on applying Duracoat it looks to be pretty straight forward and not hard. On a high end firearm I really like what I see with that Black Ice Coating and would seriously consider, it is basically the same finish that was used on high end non stick cookware which is very durable and has natural slickness properties. Al

No bigger Bills fan than me but because of the stance on players kneeling during our National Anthem I have not watched one single NFL game this year and to be honest I do not miss it. I got off my old ass on Sunday afternoons and found more productive things to do like more time spent in the woods and had a blast. Al

If anyone is interested "Ballistic Products" is one of if not the best outfit for shotshell loading components for both shot and slugs. They have everything one needs and specific manuals for any kind of loads imaginable, I have been buying from them for sometime getting non toxic shot, they have treated me right and the prices are not out of line. Al http://www.ballisticproducts.com/default.asp

One of the funniest things I ever saw was a fellow at a Deer camp decide he was going to slice and fry up some liverwurst for a hot sandwich, he ended up with a melted down brown puddle of foul smelling pukey looking pudding. It did not stop him from using it, he slathering it between two sliced of bread and proceeded to eat it, within five minutes he was running out the door blowing chunks. I laugh my ass off every time I think of that fiasco. Al

I recommend mastering the dying rabbit calls first and try to make it sound as agonizing as possible. The rabbit call entices a multitude of varmint species, unless you are specifically targeting Coyotes using the Coyote howler will make any Foxes or Coons in the area head for cover I would use your 22 rifle over the 25 cal airgun and use the best high powered ammo you can obtain, I like the CCI "Velocitors' best for bigger varmints but "Stingers" will work too. Try to keep your shots under 60 yards and place the bullet behind the front should just like on a Deer and they will not go far. Good luck to you. Al

Liver & Onions = Blowing Chunks

I would not use the term coolest thing, "significant" probably fits better. I posted here about it previously. My brother, a friend and myself were hunting Snow Shoe Hare in the early winter in 1973 with not much snow on the ground. We found the shallow grave of a woman named Linda Cady and her young daughter. Al http://megpostol.tumblr.com/post/97258945230/the-grisly-history-of-the-steuben-hills

All the indoor ranges I ever shot at had stalls with partition walls that would block and prevent empty cases flying into the shooting station next to it. Bullseye pistol shooting is all about concentration and focus and anything that interferes with that will have a negative effect on your score especially in the timed and rapid fire stages. I would have told the rangemaster what was happening and requested to shoot my rounds over. The woman using the S&W should have been moved to the shooting station on the end of the firing line where her empty brass would not be flying into other competitors faces. Al

I am very familiar with the Savage 110 style action and yes the barrel nut is a cost saving feature but for me that does not detract from it's end resulting performance. The barrel is headspaced by a big lock nut and threaded into the receiver. The receiver itself is produced from a single piece of seamless tubing and stamped parts are used wherever possible. The use of a separated bolt head makes the bolt lugs essentially self-lapping and resulted in perfect alignment and great accuracy without added machining. The end result is a rifle that can and could easily compete on the range and blow the completion away on a sporting goods store gun rack. With all else being equal the Savage 110 style action will easily hold it's own against the intended competition. The most accurate off the shelf rifle I have ever seen was a Savage single shot varmint rifle in 220 Swift using a 110 style action, one hole groups all day long.

I purchased a still in production Canadian made Heartland cookstove along with the optional attached hot water tank on the side about 20 years ago and have been using it ever since for both heat and cooking. I burn nut coal in mine because of much longer burn times than wood and also there is no creosote. It will heat the house most of the time by itself and is great for cooking especially slow cooked meats of various types in the oven. It is one of the best purchases I have ever made. Al

For the past 20 years or so as I have started getting a little age on me I have been getting the shot. A couple of years ago the shot did not match the strain that was going around so I said the heck with it and did not bother getting it. Well don't you know as sure a hell I got the flu that year and was sicker than a dog, it is nothing to mess with when you are older or very young and as can be seen on the news just about every night you can die from it. It is no big deal and even without insurance affordable, better to be a little safer than sorry and do all you can to protect yourself and family. Al

First of all the Savage 110 style bolt action has a reputation of being one of the most consistently accurate designs period, the barrel nut has a zero downside other than aesthetics to some. I picked up a synthetic stock left hand plain trigger version in 7mm-08 for my wife, and did a trigger job and got a nice crisp 4 lb pull. Mounted a Leupold 3x9 I had laying around and picked up some 139 Hornady SST handloads at the Syracuse gun show. Once we got her sighted in the wife shot several 3 shot groups at 100 , she was getting 11/2 inch groups no problem. I am sure with some experimentation with some different loads I could get it to shoot even better but for fairly short range woods Deer hunting it was plenty good enough. Al

I considered the shoe box type compressors but I have holding off on one as I have been seeing a bunch of stand alone airgun compressors that have been coming on the market in recent years for not a whole lot of money. If and when those stand alones turn out to be half way decent I may spring for one. Al My 25 cal MRod

Stay away from "EVERYTHING" made from white processed flour and and refined white sugar, stay with it and you will lose weight.

I have become big fan of PCP powered airguns, picked a Benjamin Marauder 25 cal PCP a few years ago and it has been a great rifle with gilt edged accuracy and a lot of pop. The only downside is using the hand pump to get her charged up, not a bit deal if just used for hunting or a little plinking but if you get into a tin of pellets doing some substantial target shooting you will get a real workout, I would say over a period of time as "married with children's AL BUNDY" once said you will end up with arms like a "Java Man", So while I try to keep convincing myself that the workout is a good side benefit I have been looking into some various personal use high pressure compressors for airguns. The reviews seem to be all over the map on these things and before I plunk down the cash it takes to buy one I want to make sure if I take the plunge I will have something with quality and longevity. If I can ever end up with a tank and a compressor of decent quality at a reasonable price that 35 cal Benjamin Bulldog will not be far behind Al

Unfortunately this is what can happen when you have an open message board, ( a board that you just register on and are automatically in), anyone who has a grudge, anti hunters, opposite politics, spammers, etc, can join and proceed to flood the board with garbage. Late at night or early in the morning is when they make their attacks. I have been running a hunting dog message board for close to 15 years and because of the baloney we are seeing here on this board I long ago went to a approved membership setting. I had a deal like this happen once and as fast as I was deleting the bad actor's accounts and messages they were signing up with new accounts and continued to flood the board with garbage. I now check every single new member first before their account is approved. In other words when someone joins my board I have ways of checking to see where they are from. When I see anyone suspicious as in members wanting to join from China, India, and a few shithole countries, along with the weird screen names like these jerks here are using I know they are more than likely up to no good and they are are not going to be approved as a member. It is a pain in the ass to have to do things that way, every forum owner operates their board as they see fit but being a one man operation the approved membership setting saves me a lot of grief and work cleaning up the mess that has to be done to restore things back to normal when these jerks decide they want to ruin your day. Al

You are on my friend. Al

I always thought of a several week excursion using a motorhome and loading up a couple of my dogs, a bunch of my Varmint rifles and double shotguns along with a pile of ammunition for a combination varmint-bird hunting safari starting in the Dakotas and working my way down to Arizona. I think it would be a blast. My hit list Pheasants, Prairie Dogs, Marmots, Coyotes Jack Rabbits, Bobcat Sharptail grouse, Prairie Chicken, Sage grouse, Chukar, Gambel's Quail, Scaled Quail, Mearns Quail Merriam's and Rio Grand Turkey I like action and pulling the triggers of my firearms! Al

I would be a hypocrite I would be a hypocrite because I talk the same way in real life as do most of the people I know. Al

I have seen several of your posts and it is apparent that you are looking for a compact short handy (BRUSH) rifle that can be used for some Deer hunting. A rifle in 9mm and the 30 cal M1 carbine can kill a Deer but they really are not ideal. You seem to be leaning toward an autoloader and do not mind the military look. I believe the Ruger Mini 14 chambered in 300 Blackout tactical fits your bill best and especially so if you handload as all the good quality 308 size bullets in their various weights can be used and would be pretty effective on Deer at short to moderate ranges.The Mini 14 in 7.62X39 Russian is also good but it's 310 bullet size puts it in second place to the Blackout for me as a hunting rifle. Al

Sounds like a B Sci Fi Movie

“I hunt because I love the entire process: the preparations, the excitement, and sustained suspense of trying to match my woodslore against the finely honed instincts of these creatures. On most days spent in the woods, I come home with an honestly earned feeling that something good has taken place. It makes no difference whether or not I got anything: it has to do with how the day was spent.” Fred Bear

I like these Gildan 47400 Tech Performance Long Sleeve T-Shirt G474 or something similar against my skin, poly material will wick the sweat away, sweat and being wet is what will make you cold once you stop moving. Wear your wool or Polartec type shirts layered over the top of these along with a good coat and you will be good to go. Al

My dad taught me at an early age how to use a compass and I am totally confident as long as I have a good quality working compass on my person (I actually carry two) I will never get lost. Many years of following my Coon dogs in big woods at night is about as sure fire a way of getting turned around and disoriented to where you are as it gets. I always have pretty good knowledge of the lay of the lands I am hunting, it's trails and roads creeks and streams are noted by studying maps and many times from previous experience. I take note of my my starting point and it's orientation on my maps with an initial compass reading and just head in. I can be zig zagging around in a several square mile area half the night going wherever the dogs take me and when I have had enough I leash up the dogs, take a compass reading and head out, might not come out exactly to my vehicle but usually not to far off and importantly never lost. Hail o the Compass Al

Got the little Just Rite Miner's carbide lamp cleaned up, put a few pieces of carbide in the chamber and water in the top and she fired right up. I have never hunted Coon with any of my carbides but I have picked up night crawlers using one. Al