airedale

I installed a very worthwhile sight upgrade on mine, not a lot of money and just snaps on. Al

The only time I have scope covers on is when it is raining and most times it will be just one on the rear of the scope. No rain, the scope covers are off and in my pocket. Al

Your new 410 will work well for it's intended purpose, I have one like that in 20 ga, they are solid workhorses. Al

The "baleful" stare, my old Den Terrier "Scruffy", maybe the toughest dog I have ever owned. Only 11 or 12 pounds but if there was ever the definition of the old saying "it is not the size of the dog in the fight, it is the size of the fight in the dog" old Scruff met it in spades. Got her from an old time fox hunting den terrier man name Arnie Morse down in PA. Al

It has taken me awhile to finally get my hands on some Varget Powder, from what I have read it gives good results with the lightweight Barnes 160 gr 338 bullets. These will transform Fronkensteen from a "big" big game rifle to something a bit more suitable for Deer and something that is not scrambling my brain recoil wise. Regardless I now have a lead sled to tame Franky down. When I test these rounds out I want to run them through my chronograph, the only way to tell the truth on their performance but I am pretty sure I will be getting at least 3300 fps and maybe more out of Fronkensteen's 28 inch barrel. Barnes 160 gr on left, Sierra 250 gr on right. Al

Nice, Good score. Al

Ironic that it was not too many years ago the scope was many times a throw in enticement to sell a rifle, these days the name brand vintage scopes are almost worth the same as the rifle itself. Congrats on obtaining your Ruger 77, the 77s are a big favorite with me. Al

Absolutely, like the wind the sun can definitely be part of the hunt plan. A couple of years ago I hunted with my new Henry polished brass frame single shot, talk about a "sparkler" I had to do several things to keep that glaring shine down to a minimum. Did what I had to do and all went well with a little extra precaution I got a Deer with it. Al

I am one to go by personal experience, it has always been well known that shiny surfaces on firearms can reflect sunlight and a hunter has to be aware of that fact and there are ways to mitigate that problem. I am not going to sit in a sunny area fidgeting moving my firearm around making it look like a signal mirror. When I set up I will make sure that the least of my worries is my firearm shining a warning of my position. Been hunting Deer and Varmints with walnut and steel firearms mounted with gloss finished scopes for over 60yrs, not to brag but I think I have done OK. If someone wants to use muted finished firearms I am totally OK with that, but you can't tell me one can not be a successful hunter using fine walnut and steel firearms. Al

I have noticed the matt finish trend has also infiltrated the firearms industry quite a bit in recent years. I can see that type of finish for certain types and situations, but for the most part I still favor a gloss blue rifle with a nice walnut oil finished classic stock, it is most pleasing to my eye. I do kind of like the cerakote type epoxy finishes, they have them looking pretty close to traditional blue in look and I think it is a much more durable finish that actually protects against moisture and corrosion. I had my little model 24 Savage combo gun cerakoted a few years ago and it looks pretty darn good. Al

As mentioned above there is a special high temp paint for stoves, I did my old charcoal smoker a couple of years ago and it has held up fine. Take a wire brush to the rust and get as much as possible off before applying your paint. Al

Got the stool after I did a remodel of my reloading room, it is very well made and looks to be very good quality, Midway USA is where I got mine. Al

I think you may have to rectify that. Al

I agree with what has been said, I have some large high powered scopes but they are not on my Deer-Big game rifles. Varmint, Varmint-Big game dual purpose rifles and target rifles yes but not so much for a carrying rifle. For a muzzleloader scope I really like the ultralight Leupold 2.5X I love low powered compact rifle scopes that have a large field of view for most of my Deer firearms. 2.5X, 3X, 1x4X and 1x5X are some of my favorites power wise. Believe me here in NY's typical hunting situations even a 2.5X can reach out with some serious distances when familiar with using one. As far as brands most all of the companies made decent scopes but the Leupolds are at the top when it comes to total reliability. I once had a job in a large sporting goods store and one of my main duties was the scope department, selling, mounting and taking care of any repairs and we are talking about hundreds of scopes. In a nutshell I can remember only one Leupold having to be sent back for a repair, Redfields came in at a distant second Burris not far behind and the rest like Tasco, Weaver and Bushnell were pretty much lumped into the same category quality wise. Fogging in wet weather was the number one problem, followed by broken cross hairs, cracked lenses and adjustment that stopped adjusting most of what was due from heavy recoil (Shotgun Slug Guns) and fogging from hunting in the rain. I would like to say most times all the companies honored their warranty with no problem repairing or replacing scopes, the problem is these breakdowns always seem to occur at the worst possible time, usually shooting at game. And as for the old gloss finish I believe it is a cost cutting measure more than anything else, and I have never spooked any lost an opportunity at any game because of a gloss finished scope. Al

So I decided to do things right and picked up a Power Stop target block that is made to easily take and stop crossbow bolts with both target and broadhead tips. It is supposed to work very well and last a good long time. Looks to be pretty tough and we will see as I plan to give it a good workout with both the crossbow and my regular bows. It is a couple of feet square, nice and big so I should have no problem staying on target. Al

Kill four or five, dress them out, clean them up good and quarter them, put them in a crock pot, add a big bottle of Sweet Baby Ray's and let them cook for about eight or nine hours. You will feel sorry you did not start hunting them sooner. Al

Checking out vendors for rifle scopes these days has turned into a massive quagmire of unrecognizable makers and the names I do recognize are for the most part name only. They have been purchased by some Chinese conglomerate made in a foreign land and bearing little resemblance to the stuff that was made in the US. At one time there were scope models that had production runs for decades, these days a model may be made and then dropped from the line after a couple of years for the latest new and improved version. Those kinds of constant changes have to have some kind of effect on warranty and repairs. From personal experience I have found that when a problem does arise many of these optic companies just send a comparable replacement instead of fixing the problem. I am sure these new scopes are decent quality for the upper end stuff, but how long will they be around? Well the rant above has made me look for quality American made stuff I know and trust for any kind of serious rifle scope combo. I stick with Leupold scopes for the most part, their track record for me has been beyond reproach. Scopes that go back over 50 years mounted on rifles shot thousands of times that are performing as well as the day they saw their first shot. This scope business and situation has not gone unnoticed by shooters and hunters, vintage American made scope prices have seen massive jumps in recent years, some prices border on the ridiculous. Where on ebay a few years ago I could buy a vintage American scope in new condition for a song, thing have changed big time and while a buy can still be found most times you will have to pay. My favorite American made hunting scope is the old Leupold 2x7 gloss, I have had these scopes mounted on my serious hunting rifles for decades and never once at any time have I wished I had something different when taking the shot. Leupold does have a current 2x7 that I am sure will perform as well as the old ones. One more bitch, what happened to the gloss finish? I like a little bit of spit and polish on some of my stuff!! Al

Evie has nothing to fear from me, I raise livestock for my own pleasure and fun and for something to keep me busy, when things get too crowded, I sell excess animals to other small farms. What money I do make buys meat from the market. Al

I am looking forward to trying out a new Icotec Varmint call, I would like to carry it with a shoulder strap but after looking it over there is no simple way of attaching one. So I was just about to buy some sort of a carrying bag and remember I had a shoulder bag stashed in my closet that I received for a gift years ago. Got it out and it looks like a perfect solution. Plenty of room for the caller and remote plus a bunch of extra pockets for a knife, compass, gambrel, GPS, ammo etc. I believe it will work great. With little snow on the ground should make for some easy walking I hope to get out this next week and see what I can see. Al

Born on Christmas Eve a little Irish Dexter heifer calf the wife named Evie. Had to bring her inside as the weather was horrible and she would have had a tough time making it down in the barn. Nothing new around here as over the years I have had to bottle raise calves on several occasions, consequently I am well prepared. Set up a stall in my garage so it is fairly easy to just go out the back door and feed her and clean her stall, luckily the "Storm and Strief's" favorite animals are cows so Evie has it made. LOL Al

Hell I am just a kid with an insatiable thirst for knowledge of all sorts and still listen to my elders for a tidbit of something useful every chance I get. I have found learning new stuff to be a never ending process. Al

Josie a Hare bred Beagle, her line hailed from Michigan, she was up on legs so she could go in the snow, had a good cold nose and would make a Hare run for it's life. Below a photo, asked her if she could speak. Another hunting dog that lived in the house. Al

Got that right, any time the tall tales started I would always gravitate to the old timer's circle, I listened and learned and learned plenty. Al

If these calling techniques actually work with some consistency it would be a useful tool for hunting Hare and Rabbits. It would be helpful for Snowshoe Hare especially on bare ground. This time of year they have changed to their white coats and one would think hunting them on bare ground they would stick out like a sore thumb and be easy pickings. If they were out in the open they would stick out like a sore thumb, the problem is when the ground is bare they seem to know that fact they are vulnerable and hold up out of sight under tight cover. Laying up like that they give off little to no scent making it hard for the dogs to get a strike and a race started. I have seen dogs literally run over a laid up Hare without a clue it was there but as soon as they raise up off the ground the dogs smell scent immediately and it is off to the races. If calling just works good enough for them to expose themselves for a second so they can be flushed for the dogs it would be great in itself. Give it a try Gunner and see if you have any success, good luck. Al

Love it when I learn something new, I once heard that it is possible at times to call a Hare or Rabbit out of cover and expose itself well enough to get a shot. Well good old youtube has provided some evidence this may be true as there are a couple of videos showing it being done. I at one time had a few SnowShoe Hare out in the woods in back of my place and I think I have a couple of mouth calls in my arsenal that can duplicate what I hear in the videos and may give it a try, if nothing else there will be a good chance a Fox or Coyote may respond. Al