airedale

Not at all, the Hornady SST bullet is an upgraded version of the time tested tried and true interlock bullet, having a more aerodynamic profile with a plastic tip and a boat tail. I have used the regular interlock bullets for years with zero complaints, I think they are one of the best hunting bullets made at any price and expect the SST interlocks to perform much the same way. High velocity, flat trajectory and gilt-edge accuracy far outweigh any possible meat damage from my perspective. A well placed shot will pole axe a Deer most times right where they stand and if they do run it is not very far. Almost every shot I take at big game is a heart lung shot behind the front shoulder, there is not a whole lot of meat wasted when taking and making that shot. Al

You had a heck of a season Charlie , congrats to both you and your canine partners.

So the handload I will be using for the most part out of this rifle will be the 123 gr Hornady SST interlock bullet made especially for whitetails. I ran the load through Hornady's ballistic calculator out to 450 yards and will be sighting the 3300 FPS load close to the info is on the chart below, a little over 2inches at 100 yds. Sure looks good on paper! I have access to a 300 yard range so I will be doing a check there to tell the truth. I have found Hornady's calculator to be pretty much spot on. Al

LOL, According to the fellow in the video you did. Unless one gets hold of a complete dog, I have found most firearms with a little tweaking with ammo, trigger and sometimes bedding shoot pretty well, especially for hunting. Al

This week I really put the TC Encore to the test with that 458 barrel. I am amazed at how inherently accurate these big calibers like 45-70 and 458 mag can be out of a good rifle firing quality ammunition. Getting this rifle dialed in without too much problem was due to the recoil reduction of the Caldwell Lead Sled. Firing a light weight 458 mag rifle from the bench with stiff loads is unpleasant and that is putting it mildly. The Lead Sled took care of all that unpleasantness making concentration of taking the shot easy. The muzzle brake on the barrel prevented me from using any of my bore sighters as the arbor would not reach the inside of the barrel, the muzzle brake is made from aluminum so my magnetic bore sighter would not work either. With a bolt action I would have just rested the rifle, removed the bolt and looked down the bore centering the bullseye and then dialing the scope in on the center of the target, with the Encore I could not use that technique unless I took the barrel off. After wasting a bunch of shots trying to get on the paper, I just held by hand the magnetic bore sighter on the front of the barrel and had my buddy dial the scope into the center of the sighter's grid and that got me on target. Once on target getting her precisely sighted in was easy and like I said the accuracy was amazing and all largely due to the Caldwell Lead Sled. Al

Never heard of it either, if established and being well known as a law it sure would be a heck of a lot easier than tacking up signs. Al

Me along with one of my Sons and buddy Tim got at it again yesterday. Tim had his Low Wall 223 again with some new loads, my Son Mike shot his 1895 High Wall 45-70 and I brough out the Thompson Center Encore with the 458 Win Mag barrel and the new Winchester Model 70 Featherweight in 6.5 PRC. The Caldwell Lead Sled with 50 lbs of lead shot holding her down earned it's keep, Son's 45-70 with curved metal buttplate and stiff handloads and that light Encore 458 mag had their recoil tamed down, both are brutal from the bench off regular bags. Got the 6.5 PRC sighted in with the handloaded 123 gr Hornady SSTs and even with that pencil thin barrel it shot great, I am more than pleased. It was a good day. Al

What is not to like on this one? Great family participation, some actual hunting for a change and not sitting in some tree house or stand with all the comforts of home. Woolrich PA tuxedos, Savage 99s, Bean Boots, Mannlicher stocked rifles. Good job Tim. Al

Anyone with experience in the shooting sports knows fully well that accuracy guarantees have to be taken with a grain of salt. There are just way too many variables, barrels, triggers, bedding, bullets, powder charges, optics, weather conditions, just to name a few. There are some manufacturers that do get most of their ducks in a row when it comes to build quality. What stood out for me with the CVA Cascade was not the company's sales pitch, it was the many videos and articles of owners actually testing the rifles and getting super performance and raving about it, I have yet to read anything really negative. I believe even the guy in the video above shot a Cascade and gave it a thumbs up. On the other hand I have seen many reviews of so called sub minute guaranteed rifles not do so well. I have my own criteria for accuracy and group my rifles in categories as to what their purpose is. Target rifles, Varmint rifles with heavy barrels, Varmint rifles with sporter barrels, Big game hunting rifles and Plinkers they all have different requirements in the accuracy department as far as grouping goes. Al

In my search for a 6.5 PRC rifle, I kept seeing this relatively new CVA bolt action Cascade rifle being promoted. Review after review raving about this rifle and I read a lot of them. I have seen enough evidence to prove this gun has to be one of the very best buys in a hunting rifle for both price and performance. Had I been able to purchase one with a walnut stock I would have bit. Who gives a money back guarantee for accuracy? Looking for a new rifle to hunt with I would give this cascade a serious look. Al

Put one of those aluminum arrows with a good razor head into a Deer's boiler room and you will have a dead one. I have aluminums, carbons, cedars and even a few old fiberglass, match them to your bow and they will all shoot good hunting groups and get the job done as long as the hunter does their part. Al

Of course, it all depends on how much one pays for their components, smart shopping is key. A close estimate per shell would be. Primer $.11 Hornady sst $.40 Powder 4831 $.37 New case $1.30 That would be $2.18 per round for new. Now saying the 6.5 PRC case will last for at least 8 good loadings that would make the case cost $.18 per round bringing down the total cost to $1.06 per shot. The Barnes bullets are more than twice the cost of the Hornadys at 86 cents each and I doubt very much whether any Deer shot with either would be any more dead. Al

Spent a good part of Saturday handloading some cartridges for this 6.5 PRC, I do not have any new reloading manuals, the latest being five years old does not have any load data for this new wave of cartridges like the PRC. The newest available manual is the 2023 Hodgdon so I have that one coming but got started with Nosler's online 6.5 PRC data and used that to get me started. For bullets I went with a midrange in weight, 120 gr Barnes and Hornady's 123 gr interloc boat tail, these will work well on Deer size game. Nosler's favorite powder is Norma MRP, high velocity and best accuracy, I just happened to have a stash. I have used MRP for many years, mostly in my 280 Remington, it is in a league of it's own. Thankfully I had enough to load enough shells to last many years as I have found out that Norma is no longer making or selling powder at this time. According to Nosler the load I am trying will be speeding along at least 3300 FPS, that is faster that the factory loads for the 264 Winchester mag with similar bullet weights. My second powder is the old standby Hodgdon 4831 short cut with the same bullets, not quite as good as the Norma MRP performance wise but still pretty fair. I will also be testing those fancy Federal silver bullets, I will shoot a few once I get the Winchester sighted in, at over $4 a pop I will not be firing many at paper. I will be setting up the chronograph to get the real ballistics facts, I got my fingers crossed so I will be hitting the range with the lineup below Al

Hit the Gun Show this morning and attendance was dismal, I have been going to these shows for many years and today can be described as gloomy. The show itself was decent and it was a buyer's market with good pricing, problem was nobody was there and those there did little buying it seemed. I have worked Gun Shows myself and it is a lot of work getting in there and setting up your tables and then having to pack everything up at the end. Some of those vendors are going to think long and hard about coming back for the spring show. I had one fellow tell me to make an offer on his stuff, "I am Desperate", sad! The stinking Democrats and those that vote for them are ruining this country with their policies. Al

Getting the chores done early this morning and heading out to the Syracuse Gun Show, sales will be interesting with these new suck Democrat laws that will not do anything to prevent crime. Al

You are having too much fun Charlie, LOL Al

Congrats to both of you, I have the Benjamin Marauder PCP rifle and the same hand pump, they are serious shooters. Al

Those autumn orange XX75s are my favorites Doc, I like them fletched with feathers. Al

Butchering is one of my least favorite things to do, don't care if it is a Squirrel, Rabbit, Gamebird or a Deer, I am not fond of it. I have a rule that if I kill something it must be utilized. Even varmints like Fox Coon and Coyote get skinned and the hides given to a friend of mine that messes with fur. That rule has given many a free pass as on that particular day I was not in the mood to be dressing out an animal, if I get the crosshairs on them it is sometimes good enough. When I do butcher I want things to go as smooth and easy as possible and good equipment is always a plus. With the prices meat is bringing these days I had better start learning to like butchering. Al

Just finished up reading Robert Anderson's book on Jack O Connor, America's Greatest Gun Writer. I grew up reading Jack O Connor's work and it played a major factor on my views on hunting and firearms. I have all of his books and read his monthly magazines articles up until his death, his advice never steered me wrong. This book had some interesting new tidbits and what was interesting to me pertaining to this thread about scopes was a section of the book devoted to every rifle Jack and his family owned and used throughout his career described in detail including what scopes he had mounted on each. Other than a couple of varmint rifles used for Jack Rabbits and Marmots that had higher powered varmint type scopes of the day, Jack's favorite hunting rifles usually wore a 4X Leupold with a sprinkling of 2.5 and 3x power Weavers and Leupolds. There was one rifle his wife used that had a Redfield 2x7X mounted on it. The amount of trophy game animals taken from decades of hunting all over the world speaks for itself and some shots were extremely long with what would be considered today as low powered scopes. Al

So I decided to go with the Kill Shot hoist pictured ,above, for my situation the versatile portability factor of being able to use with my vehicles that have a 2 inch receiver hitch and a secure 2 inch mount for use in my barn sealed the deal. It came yesterday and it was assembled without a problem, It is heavy and constructed well with a 500 lb capacity. As far as I can see it should do it's job well and hopefully this hunting season will give it a chance to see what it's got. Al

Different for sure! Al

Easton aluminum arrows are my favorite, been using them for many years and still use them. They are tough and last for many years, I refletched a bunch of old shafts a few years ago that had the crap shot out of them and they have been working as good as ever, been stump shooting with them. If you can shoot them accurately they will do the job. Al

Man that is going to be some serious work, with that many I would just breast and bone them and run the meat through a grinder. Al