wildcat junkie

I support American jobs when I buy Leupold..

Great roads, lots of public campgrounds, good hunting and fishing, public education system that is far better than most states.

I wasn't aware that one manufacturer's chrome moly steel was more susceptible to corrosion than others? And savages, even entry level, seem to be the most consistent OOTB performers. NONE of the "package" optics are worth keeping, especially the complicated whiz bang drop compensating reticles. I e-bay them and mount Leupold's with simple duplex reticles in their place.

If you buy used, you can always trade off the lemons without a significant loss. I've had M700s that would shoot 3/8" groups out of the box with factory ammo. I bought another M700 in the same model but a different chambering that would not hold under 2-3" at 100yds. The chamber was .004" off center. Savages seem to be the most consistent OOTB performers.

Rem M700, Win M70, M98 Mauser tremendous aftermarket support. Rugar M77, Savage 10-110, 11-111, 12-112, Sako, etc not as much as above, but still a lot of aftermarket support. Rugar American, Rem 788, Browning X-bolt, Savage Axis, etc little aftermarket support. Any of the above will function and probably shoot better than the average hunter can hold, but one can find literally anything for the 1st group, a good selection of accessories for the 2nd group and a limited choice for the 3rd group. It all depends on what you want to do with the rifle.

BTW, the big guy was still around as of Tuesday evening.

That's what thought too but the fuzzy quality picture of the top deer made me wonder if it was just wishful thinking. Looks like the rut is finally kicking into high gear here on the tundra. The full moon tonight and tomorrow night is the rutting moon this year.

Looks like 2 different bucks ro me.

The "Rutting Moon" (2nd full moon after the autumnal equinox) occurs over the next 2 days. when it is that late rutting activity is less intense. Doe breeding is timed by lunar cycles so that the bulk of the fawns will be born during the dark phases of the moon in the spring. Fawns born in mid May are not unusual here.

140 gr Ballistic Tips in a 7mm-08 is a near perfect combination for Deer size game IMO. I'm going to use them in my 7x57 when I get it completed.

He took my advice and bought a Savage Axis II in 7mm-08.

For the last week or so all of my trail cam pictures have been nocturnal. As the moonrise/set/overhead/underfoot cycle changes, the deer movements will change with them.

Moon phases. They are doing the same here.

For 3 seasons my son's buddy has been Deer hunting on my place. The last 2 seasons we were covered up with does but only two bucks seen in that time and only one of those presented a shot. This year we are covered up with yearling bucks but Curtis' wife is expecting so he hasn't been able to get out much, just 1 morning hunt so far and my place doesn't usually produce before 10:00 AM. It is a great afternoon/evening producer though Today Curtis made it out for an evening hunt. About 3:30 I heard a shot. I wear noise canceling hearing enhancement ear plugs and although they enhance hearing woods noises, it is difficult to tell what direction a gunshot has come from. After some back & forth on the radios it was established that Curtis had dropped a buck in its tracks right in the middle of a horse trail. Nice fat spike that dressed 90#. Not bad for a 1st deer. For the last 2 years I have been coaching Curtis on shot placement, especially on quartering shots. Well, today he gets an A+ for shot placement on a 100 yd quartering slightly on shot from an elevated stand. The 140 gr .284 Nosler Ballistic Tip from my handload dumped him in his tracks. IMO a textbook perfect shot. I'm so proud and happy for him. Here is the view from where the deer stood looking back on the "Penthouse" stand. I'm really proud of Curtis.

Out of the 25 or so bucks I've killed in the last 35 years, all but 1 were killed after 10:00 AM.

Nice Krag. It looks like the barrel band has been eliminated. I'd like to see a separate thread posted on the "Guns and Rifles and Discussions" page about your rifle with some pictures.

Looks like the "chase" stage of the rut is about to kick in..

I'm starting to get some idea of this guys travel pattern. I think he's bedding in the 15 acre thicket at the middle of my woods. He never shows up in daylight. Always an hour or 2 before or after. I think a mid to late morning sit might catch this guy stretching his legs a bit. I saw tracks with drag marks in the light snow we had earlier this week at a "T" intersection of my horse trails. I moved a camera deeper into my woods to that location yesterday right after the storm. Sure enough it was the Big Six.

Hey that's better than having 2 show up at the same place even if you don't have a date with either.. When that happens they both dump you no matter what you do.

I can recall 3 bonehead moves I've pulled while deer hunting. I will save the best for last, perhaps in a different post since it is a lengthy story. Bolt Action Rifle Bonehead Moves My 1st bonehead move occurred within sight of my house. It was the 1st week of the NZ deer season. I was getting off work at 3:30 PM and if I rushed home, I could get over an hour of hunting in since DST was still in affect. As I rounded a bend just a few hundred yards from my driveway, I looked into a hayfield next to my property and saw a huge deer walking along the edge of the woods about 200 yds from the road. I pulled into the driveway, rushed into the house and retrieved my M700 BDL in .243. A thick fencerow and the rolling hillside shielded my approach as I double timed up to the fencerow where I could slip into that field along a brushline. As I sneaked to the spot where I had seen the deer I heard a slow but loud thump thump as the deer loped away inside the treeline out of my sight in the thick brush. I was dejected. The animal couldn't have been more than 20 yds from me as it made its escape. I worked my way back to the fencerow and for some reason, I emptied my rifle before stepping into my hayfield. As I stepped into the open, I spied 2 yearling bucks sparring about 25 yds away at the edge of the fencrow. They were so engrossed in their battle that they were oblivious to my presence. This was only my 2nd year here on the farm and I was still in the "any legal buck" mode of deer hunting. While keeping my eyes glued to the 2 bucks, I fumbled in my pockets and attempted to shove some rounds into the magazine. The bucks continued their battle without noticing the noise or my movements. When I tried to close the bolt, the gun jammed. I looked down and somehow 2 cartridges had gotten crossed up in the magazine. Now I'm coming unglued and I pulled my key ring out of my pocket and was desperately trying to clear the jam. The bucks now ceased their aggression and where both staring at me, one with his head cocked to the side like a dog seeing something that was puzzling to him. As I rattled the keychain trying to pry the crossed up cartridge loose, they had enough of the strange spectacle and bounded into the brush. I had to pull the action from the stock when I got to the house to get the jam cleared. I vowed to never again hunt with a rifle that had a blind magazine. Fast forward two years to early November of 2001. I had replaced the BDL with a M700 Mtn Rifle DBM (Detachable Box Magazine) in 7mm-08. I also had my 1st rendition of the 8mm-06 Ackley Improved at the time, but had left it home due to the wet rainy conditions and the (still green) boiled linseed oil finish on the stock. For some reason, I left my tripod stand a bit early and walked the 150 yds or so to an opening in the fencerow at the corner of some woods between my N and S hayfields. I had parked my car just on the other side of the opening along the brushy fencerow. As I stepped into the opening, I popped the box magazine out and with the rifle cradled in my left arm, I was thumbing cartridges out of the magazine into my left hand. Just as the last cartridge popped into my hand, I looked up and saw a small doe at the opposite end of the hayfield about 150 yds away. A few seconds later I noticed that next to her was a HUGE buck with a very large forkhorn rack. Again I fumbled with the 4 cartridges in my pocket. I dropped one on the ground, managed to get one into the magazine and inserted the magazine into the rifle. I quickly cycled the bolt, ejecting the live round in the chamber that I had forgotten about, and raised the rifle, getting him in the scope just as the buck slipped into the brush. My last story has to do with a monumentally stupid bonehead move I pulled with my .54 Flintlock rifle that makes these last 2 example pale in comparison. It deserves a post all to itself.

If there is a significant ding, gouge, etc at the crown. It will allow the propellent gasses to vent at that point at the precise microsecond that the bullet is leaving the muzzle. That will cant the bullet as it leaves the muzzle. That will result in very erratic grouping. It would be possible when cleaning from the muzzle repeatedly to wear one side of the bore thus creating an oval or elliptical hole at the end of the barrel. It probably wouldn't be obvious to the naked eye, but if there was a .005-.010" partial gap between the bore and the bullet base, it could cause erratic performance. I don't see stock fit, especially on a rifle with a 2-piece stock, causing the significance in erratic grouping you are experiencing. Then again the bore might just be ruined. If it was shot with corrosive primers in the early part of the 20th century or the later part of the 19th century without the required soap and water cleaning. Even with smokeless powders, corrosive primers will have a similar effect to black powder due to the salts present. The good news is, if you want to make Granddads rifle shoot like new, a barrel liner can be used to restore the bore. The cost is not significantly more than a straight rebarrel job and the appearance of an heirloom piece can be maintained.

Hickory. It has worked for hundreds of years. If you break a ramrod, 99% of the time it's operator error.

I would be willing to bet that some aforementioned "gorilla" used a steel cleaning rod and destroyed the crown and several inches of the rifling behind the muzzle. The only remedy would be to cut a few inches off the muzzle and recrown. The only thing worse than a steel ramrod used from the muzzle is a fiberglass ramrod such as I see guys using on their muzzleloaders.

Not if you shoot it with a tracer.

FFS can't you leave your damned smartphone at the house when you're hunting?