airedale

The one certainty when a Deer is hit with a well placed shot with a decently constructed bullet or arrow head is that it is going to die. The big uncertainty is their reaction after the shot, using Forrest Gump's analogy "Shooting a Deer is like a box of chocolates, you never know how they are going to react" would not be a stretch. Almost every Deer I have ever taken has been targeted and hit in the heart-lung area just behind the front shoulder with a wide variety of hunting weapons and some of the reactions to those shots can and have varied widely. Many dropped in their tracks, some humped up a stumbled a few steps and keeled over while others would make a dramatic death sprint anywhere from a few to several hundred yards even though they were shot in the identical place with the same gun and same bullet at the same range, crazy ain't it? The most amazing feat of tenacity was a small four point buck I shot at a distance of less than 20 yards with a Marlin 95 45-70, a cartridge that played a large part in decimating the American Bison which will easily weigh over 1000 lbs, yet this 125 lb Deer hit perfectly behind the front shoulder sprints several hundred yards through the woods before dying. What makes that even more puzzling is the year before with the same rifle and almost the same distance I nailed a similar 6 point buck hitting him in the exact same spot behind the front shoulder, yet he drops where he stood. The point of all this is for a young hunter that may give up too early, if the crosshairs-sights were on the right spot when your gun went off remember they all do not drop in their tracks and that even though they make make one of those ungodly long sprints that seems impossible to do that Deer is going to be dead somewhere. It maybe tough to find sometimes but it can be found with persistence. Al

For me there is nothing like a good snow cover that has been on the ground for several days, it can really provide some valuable info to read about how when and where they have been traveling within an area. Don't look like that is going to happen any time soon. Al

You made the right decision and will not regret it, sounds like a nice scope, good luck. Al

Good choice, good caliber and a fine looking rifle to boot. Now mount a nice Leupold 2X7 on her and you will be all set. Al

I am glad to hear your uncle did so well with his Weaver Qwick Point, there had to have been a few that stayed together because they kept producing them for a few years before discontinuing them. Our store did not wait that long, they were so bad we discontinued selling them on our own as they were not worth the hassle and the disgruntled customers. Al

Here is a real dilly from the past, the old Weaver Qwik Point Sight, was not a pretty sight (pun Intended) when mounted on slug gun and fired a few times. Back in my scope mounting days job if I had a dollar for every one I had to box and send back to Weaver for repair I think I could have purchased a pretty nice rifle.

Your scope be it on a crossbow or a firearm is priority number one, it is never too late to change out a piece of crap for quality. Al

Projectile selection for your flintlock will be determined by the rifling twist rate of your barrel. There is a general rule that applies fairly well, fast twist rates would be something like 1 in 25 and they are best when it comes firing a bullet in a sabot or a power belt. There are medium twist rate that are like in the 1 in 40 range that are supposed to fire both bullets and round balls with decent accuracy. A slow twist rate like a 1in 60 is best for patched round balls. The round ball weight is going to be determined by the caliber, for instance I have a couple of 45 calibers and the round balls will all be around 127 grs. When firing bullets there will be a wide variety and selection of weights available and the shapes can vary a lot. The manufacturer of your rifle should provide you with some kind of a starting point when it comes to what is preferable for your particular rifle when it comes to bullet type and some loading data. I would start with that and experiment and fine tune from there. As for powder the choices are again wide but most folks firing a traditional sidelock will be using plain black powder or pyrodex. 45 cal and below most use fff burn rate with 50 cal and above using ff. ThIs is just touching on the subject lightly, books are written on choices and combos which can be pretty big but it makes things fun, good luck to you and your flintlock project. Al

Hey guy I don't buy a bow stamp or archery hunt anymore and won' be anytime soon. The woods and Deer can be all yours and I could care less if you want to use a Bazooka. My opinion on this matter has not one thing to do about jealousy or sharing the woods, for me it is always about destroying the original concept of the special archery season's primitive special season. It was supposed to be hard! Nobody here can convince me that a modern crossbow with a scope, firearm style trigger, fires and has the accuracy of a short range rifle is hunting the special season in that primitive spirit that seems to have been conveniently forgotten. Al

I had one of those years some time ago, in my stand day after day with just the sighting once in awhile of a doe but zero bucks. The season actually came down to the last day, it was miserable cold and windy but I made myself hit the timber that one last day of season. As I was sitting there in the stand and the daylight waning it started to rain making this dismal season come to an end on a sour note. I looked at my watch and figured I had just about 15 minute left before I could get and head for home. Actually I was happy the countdown was on because me and the wife were going out to eat in a new restaurant that had fabulous food and I was starving and could hardly wait to get the heck out of the woods. About that time I look down and there is a six point buck standing under the stand looking at me, I distinctly remembering saying to my self "SON OF A BITCH!" LOL. Anyhow I took aim with my Dad's model 95 Marlin 45-70 and flattened that guy. One of those deals were I was happy but wasn't and the wife really wasn't. Well as they say all is well that ends well, got the Deer home and hung up in plenty of time to go out and eat and kept the wife and my stomach happy. As a old timer once said to me when on stand deer hunting "Have Patience and be Persistent my boy". Al

It has always been easy to see why Ohio has allowed crossbows, they basically want all weapons used for Deer hunting to be on the shorter range end of the scale. That being said a single shot Winchester High Wall, Remington Rolling Block or a 1874 Sharps firing one of those old Buffalo cartridges with modern components could shoot a pretty far piece for someone that knows what they are doing. Al Hunting Equipment By Species White-Tailed Deer Archery Season Longbow: Minimum draw weight 40 pounds. This includes compound bows and recurve bows. The arrow tip needs a minimum of two cutting edges, which may be exposed or unexposed and a minimum 3/4-inch width. Expandable and mechanical broadheads are legal. Crossbow: Minimum draw weight 75 pounds. The arrow tip needs a minimum of two cutting edges, which may be exposed or unexposed and a minimum 3/4-inch width. Expandable and mechanical broadheads are legal. Gun Season and Youth Gun Season Shotgun: 10 gauge or smaller shotgun using one ball or one rifled slug per barrel (rifled shotgun barrels are permitted when using shotgun slug ammunition). Muzzleloading rifle: .38 caliber or larger. Muzzleloading shotgun: 10 gauge or smaller using one ball per barrel. Handgun: With 5-inch minimum length barrel, using straight-walled cartridges .357 caliber or larger. Straight-walled cartridge rifles in the following calibers: .357 Magnum, .357 Maximum, .38 Special, .375 Super Magnum, .375 Winchester, .38-55, .41 Long Colt, .41 Magnum, .44 Special, .44 Magnum, .444 Marlin, .45 ACP, .45 Colt, .45 Long Colt, .45 Winchester Magnum, .45 Smith & Wesson, .450 Marlin, .454 Casull, .460 Smith & Wesson, .45-70, .45-90, .45-110, .475 Linebaugh, .50-70, .50-90, .50-100, .50-110, and .500 Smith & Wesson.Shotguns and straight-walled cartridge rifles can be loaded with no more than three shells in the chamber and magazine combined.

Might just as well go whole hog, I would be all in for early season full inclusion for handguns.

Your argument is lame trying to equate early hunting archery of 40-50 years ago, the rules and what it took to become proficient to take a deer with today's modern crossbow. Al

I know all about it I was there and I can tell you what we had was nothing close to a crossbow. Al

Well I think if there is full inclusion for crossbows that it is only fair that those hunters who demand to use such weapons have to follow the same route traditional bowhunters had to follow and earn your full inclusion stripes by having the several decades the incremental changes and improvements our bows went through instead of going to the head of the class right off the get go with one of these. We started out with long bows and recurves that had to have a minimum weight of pull, we shot cedar arrows, our bows had to be able to shoot an arrow a certain distance, also no mechanical release, finger tabs or glove only. Something along these lines should be good for starters the first few seasons, BWHAHAHAHHA! Al

Came out really nice, well figured classic stock with the beaded cheek piece and it sounds like she is a shooter to boot, it don't get any better for me. Are you going to have the stock checkered? Al

Here you go I recently put a different scope on my Remington 541S and sighted it it in using 4 different types of ammunition, the target spots are about the size of a quarter, 5 shot groups at 50 yards.

The green terminology was my own which I use for all non lead ammunition. The ammo tested is the very latest CCI copper 22 LR ammunition that your friend seems to be satisfied with. The test posted above was just done a couple of weeks ago. I will add the test above is just one of many that have taken place with this ammo by other rimfire shooters all of which have come to the same conclusion that it is garbage compared to lead and especially so if used for hunting. Al

The ammo tested above is the new CCI green non lead just fired a couple of weeks ago. When it comes to the 22 LR a copper or copper composite bullet will never be satisfactory for hunting or targets. It is all about the laws of simple ballistics and bullet coefficient, a bullet's weight relative to it's diameter and length. The easiest analogy would to be to take two baseballs, one a regular major league and a whiffle type baseball. Babe Ruth could hit and connect on both with the same power, the real baseball will easily fly out of the park but not so with the whiffle ball which would be lucky to make it much farther than the infield. Even though the balls are exactly the same size dimension wise it is the weight in relation to size that makes the big difference. Even when made from lead the 22 LR's bullet coefficient in on the very low end of the scale, made from something light like copper is hopeless. The 22 LR's only hope for success as non lead would be a bismuth type with a copper jacket that would give it the weight needed to boost it's ballistic coefficient. The problem is the cost which would be expensive, the copper bullets as bad as they perform go for over $10 and that is for only 50. Al

We all know the old saying "THE GOOD OLD DAYS", when it comes to the choices in firearms and caliber selections available today these are by far the good old days. The same goes for ammo selection and reloading components, the selection that is available of all this stuff is mind boggling compared to what it was when I was a young guy and to know everything about it all would be major. My knowledge is mostly on the old standbys that I grew up with and have been around forever. A lot of the new stuff that has come out recently especially the cascade of newer magnums both short and long and ultra I have zero experience with. Same with some of the newer powders and bullets available today. To answer the OP's question, these days it would be one heck of a feat to have actually fired every caliber/round ever made and if there was anyone that has accomplished such a feat they would be few and far between I expect. There are probably a few old time firearms writers still applying their trade for the gun rags that may have had the opportunity to touch off large percentage of what was ever produced produced. The good thing today is with a click of your computer's mouse just about any info about any cartridge or firearm one would want to know can be brought up instantly with an internet search. Like I posted above I am about to get serious loading ammo for my Dad's old Winchester Model 88 284, I did a search and came up with a wonderful in depth 24 page loading extravaganza for that cartridge that I downloaded and printed out which will put me on the fast track and save me a lot of time. Times have never been better, enjoy. Al

Well your friend's evaluation does not have much credence with me, I am pretty knowledgeable when it comes to firearms and when it comes to rimfires that is my wheelhouse. What your friend considers accurate does not jive at all, below is a very good honest evaluation that was just done with the same ammo. One of many that all have pretty much the same results. And yes the California ban is only for hunting, I guess that makes the folks out there that hunt with probably the most popular round on the planet feel good! Please do not try to bullshit me! Al ===================================== I, and two other shooting buddies, tried the ammo out at my 110M range.One of the guys got 1,000 rounds from somewhere and shared it with us.We are all accomplished shooters ie: 4 decades @ in competition.We each fired 50 rounds in 10 5 round groups at 50 for record and then screwed around shooting at some of my IHMSA regulation PISTOL .22 swingers at ranges they are set up for those matches.Rifles were CZ 452 trainer, Win 52, Kimber 82G and a Marlin 60. All of em scoped, shot from a bench, sand bags front and rear. Conditions were virtually zero wind, targets and bench in the shade, 75-81F, humidity 79%, zero mirage, 0700-1000 hrs on a Saturday morning.The absolute best results at 50 yards from a bench etc. was 5 rounds in 1.5". Most were a tad over 3" and some of the groups looked like bad shotgun patterns instead of groups.At 75+ yards we could not hit 5" swingers but maybe 1 out of 10 shots. When we did hit one it hardly removed the paint from it.Not surprising as with the standard 1:16 twist most .22's won't do squat with light bullets.One guy had a 1:24 twist rifle set up for CB's and he tried that but could not get on paper at 50, did not want to screw with the scope settings, so he bagged that as just wasting ammo.Things we noticed:1. When "they" say "superb" accuracy they don't say at what range.2. The rounds shed over half their velocity by 100 yards.3. Could not find any Ballistic Coefficient for them but working backwards based on the drop tables and speed, chronographed at 100, it came out around .03. Most .22 lr rounds.....not all!.... have BC's around .138.4. Based on the above the energy at 50 then 75 then 100 is approximately 63 Foot Lbs, 47 and 40 respectively. That compares to 90, 86 and 83 for a 40 gr CCI SV.5. Nobody hunted with them yet but one guy shot a dead Armadillo with it at around 10 yards and the round did not penetrate it's "shell".We gave him back all the unused rounds.

When I become interested in something I put a lot of effort into knowing everything there is about that particular subject. Have not shot every caliber ever made but I am not through yet and am still working at it LOL. Got into shooting and hunting at an early age and fell in love with both, subscribed to most of the relevant shooting-hunting magazines and purchased a pretty fair number of books. Also worked in a large sporting goods store that sold firearms in big numbers where knowledge about that sort of stuff was paramount. I still maintain a keen interest in firearms and shooting that continues to this day. Yesterday I finally found a source for new 284 Winchester brass that will not break the bank, up till now it has been almost impossible to come by. My Dad's old Winchester model 88 will be coming to life shortly and the odyssey continues. Al

One of the very best all around hunting books I have ever read is one called "The New Hunter's Encyclopedia" by Stackpole Books that I purchased many years ago from the "Outdoor Life book club" The book is a big one with over 1100 pages that covers just about everything hunting. The info may be old as my book was published in 1966 but it is still great reading and pertinent even today. I sure they still can be found used with an internet search, or on Amazon or ebay. Al

The various lever action rifles are one of the all time great firearms designs that have stood the test of time and proven game getters of any species. I am personally a fan and have several different makers and calibers, I enjoy them all. Even if one is not a hunter there is the mystique of the old Westerns, who ain't watched "The Duke John Wayne" and "The Rifleman" in action? Gotta Love Them Levers! Al

The Ticks and Fleas both have been horrible this year, I have never seen anything like it ever. The permethrin solution as mentioned above works as good as anything and is cost effective when you are treating several dogs. Most good farm supply stores carry the 10% solution, below is the mix ratio so it can be applied on dogs. To Kill Fleas & Ticks on Dogs - Dilute 1 part concentrate to 99 parts water (1.28 ounces per gallon) (0.05%). Using protective gloves (mitts), wet the animal by dipping or spraying. Reapply every 30 days, if necessary. I also got some of this clothes spray by Sawyer for myself. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001ANQVYU/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Al