airedale

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

Because so much time has passed Teddy Roosevelt these days does not come to mind when it comes Hunting literature, but after reading several of his books written about hunting I came away impressed with his overall knowledge and writing styles that kept my interest. All his stuff is now available in new paperback or on Amazon kindle and well worth reading if you are a book worm. He had a bunch of books published, below are a couple I liked. Al

I found it is all in the time the coffee was actually perked, after being conditioned to today's coffee makers that automatically time everything in the brew process has to be tossed. The perk experts say once the pot is brought up to a steady perk to let things continue at a medium heat and for about 7 minutes gets the brew about right. My favorite coffee these days is McDonalds McCafe Al

When searching for the best accuracy out of my muzzleloaders it for me has always been the type of projectile and it's weight and matching it to the barrel twist that made my biggest gains for accuracy followed by powder charge. Al

Reloading is one of those things that is a never ending, learning process and I am always looking to further educated myself and I am still learning new stuff every day. One of my favorite sites to glean solid information is the youtube channel of fortune cookie 45 lc. I thought I was nut for handloading but this guy makes me look like an amateur. This fellow demonstrates the latest and greatest handloading techniques, components and equipment with good understandable instruction and video and he will personally answer questions. I can say I have learned a lot from him and picked up some very valuable tips and thought I would pass this guy's knowledge along to anyone that is interested, it is good stuff. He also does talks and demos on different firearms at the range along with other odds and ends. The link to his channel is below. Al https://www.youtube.com/@FortuneCookie45LC

When I decided to mess around with a crossbow I read up on everything I could find, I found a lot of horror stories depicting what Gobbler Chaser posted above. It is the number one reason I decided to go with a modest priced Excalibur whose claim to fame of eliminating the high failure rate read about on some of the high end stuff seems to be having, it is a major selling point for me. With some of those crossbows I would be flinching every time I pulled the trigger expecting the inevitable disaster. Al

Of all the components needed for firing ammunition out of firearms I have come to feel that the brand of primers, percussion and musket caps are the least significant in the big picture, the manufacturers seem to have these particular component's production down pat and their reliability for me is flawless. I have probably used everything out there at one time or another and cannot begin to count how many shots I have fired out of handguns, rifles, shotguns and muzzleloaders, what stands out is I have had a primer fail only one time ever and I believe the cause was a light hammer strike. For shotguns and muzzleloaders I have used all the shotshell primer brands you have shown and have had satisfactory and reliable results with all, recently been mostly using the regular Winchesters in my sidelock converted to shotshell primers firing 777, but the CCIs and the 777 Winchesters worked as well but no better. Like suburbanfarmer mentioned above, hit the range and try them all. Al

Friend of mine Greg Hertel in Wyoming sent a couple of photos of a treed Mt Lion by his Airedale "Stitch". Greg loves hunting those Lions. Al

Soay Sheep are small, the Ram may weigh 65lbs but he is a strong little guy and I had all I could handle holding him still enough to clip his horn. Watched videos on line showing how to do it, I happened to have a brand new survival wire type saw that made the cut fairly easy. The wife is a country gal and will jump in and help when I need her, she has no qualms about this kind of stuff. You are right about the Italian Horn necklaces, that is what gave me the idea. Al

I have a small flock of Soay Sheep, my adult breeding Ram has a full curl set of horns. His right side horn tip was growing inward towards the side of his face so it had to be cut back some as they grow continuously and would eventually go right into his cheek. So I hold the Ram by the horns and the Wife using a wire saw cuts the end off with no problem. I thought horn tip looked kind of neat and would make a good necklace, had a stainless steel chain laying around, drilled a hole through the horn for the chain, done deal and came out OK. Don't know exactly what I am going to do with it as the only thing I wear is my watch. Al

In these days of ammo and loading component shortages along with nutty prices anyone that does a lot of handgun shooting or that shoots rifles that are chambered for so-called handgun cartridges can save some serious money loading coated cast or copper coated swaged bullets. One of my newest favorites is Missouri Bullet Company's line of cast lead bullets coated with their very effective Hi-Tek. These bullets out of handguns can be driven as velocities and accuracy that rival jacketed bullets and with the Keith type profile proven to do a nice job for hunting. I also am a fan of the copper coated swaged types from Berry. These bullets have been relatively easy to come by and prices far lower than their jacketed counterparts with similar advantages to Missouri's Hi-Tek coating listed below. Also if you cast your own bullets the Hi-Tek coating can be purchased by itself so one can coat their home mades. No lead is exposed to the environment Leading of the bore is dramatically reduced, as is lube smoke Higher velocities can be attained with coated bullets Health benefits for the reloader, as there is no touching of bare lead Reduced force required to seat and crimp because the bullets are slippery This is the newest coating from the manufacturer and has superb lubricity. The bullets actually look "wet" and are very slippery. This lubricity reduces friction-related heat as the bullet traverses the bore. In summary, Hi-Tek coated bullets offer the advantages associated with plated bullets without the expense.