tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12754725358505592452024-03-14T02:17:01.398-07:00Hodgeman's Thoughts on The Great OutdoorsRandom musings on my favorite pastime- being outside. Also included is the occasional venture into other topics.hodgemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07632228055641750343noreply@blogger.comBlogger233125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1275472535850559245.post-38541506030244031942017-03-26T11:42:00.000-07:002017-03-26T11:42:02.446-07:00Being a Generalist in an Era of Hyper-specializationI must confess that life in the era if hyper-specializtion is wearisome.<br />
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When it comes to hunting and hunting rifles, I am a huge fan of the "general purpose" category. I have been a fan of Cooper's "Scout Rifle" concept since it's inception and have done some very good field work with it. While many look at the Scout as a very specialized rifle, in truth- it is simply one man's vision of what a general purpose rifle looks like. A rifle good for just about anything you'd want a rifle to do.<br />
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If you read the hunting writers of times past- they very much liked the idea of the general purpose rifle as well. Guys like O'Connor and Whelen would often hunt much of the world with a single rifle and cartridge and proclaim the virtues of the "one gun hunter". Much of the .30-06's storied reputation was from early 19th century hunters prowling the edges of the world and taking virtually everything with the '06 and a crude telescopic sight. Even the variable scope sight was conceived as a way to accommodate as many uses as possible into a single scope.<br />
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Creating a general purpose implement is frequently more difficult than creating something specialized around a specific purpose. Generalization creates a series of compromises and balancing those compromises requires a pretty thorough understanding of the many facets of the items use. Specialization requires deep understanding of a single facet. It's my opinion that it takes a lot more skill to make something "good" for everything than it does to make something "perfect" for one thing.<br />
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I'm good with it to a point, but we often take that into the realm of the ridiculous.<br />
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Case in point- the 6mm Creedmoor cartridge.<br />
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About a decade ago, someone developed the 6.5 Creedmoor cartridge in the interest of enhanced performance for long range shooting. They desired a cartridge that would shoot high B.C. bullets supersonic to 1000 yards, mimic the trajectory of the .300Win Magnum, and have less recoil. The 6.5CM does all of those things and riflemen have flocked to it in droves primarily spurned by the recent fad of long range hunting. Neophyte hunters are proclaiming its praises as retaining high energy and awesome long range ballistics and many are suggesting its the perfect 600 yard elk rifle.<br />
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Horse apples.<br />
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The 6.5CM as a hunting cartridge doesn't do jack squat that the .300WM didn't do in 1963 and still does today albeit with more recoil. The 6.5CM's ballistics are virtually identical to the .260 Remington which is incidentally identical to the very old 6.5x55 Swede from the late 1800s. What the rifle marketing department did was take the 6.5CM, twist the barrel tighter so a longer, higher B.C. bullet would stabilize and sell it to people as a brand new long range death ray and scads of young hunters are gobbling the thing up. The rub is those super long and super sleek projectiles perform pretty sketchy on game animals.<br />
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In the interest of even more long range target work, they've now necked this 6.5CM to 6mm and call it the 6mm Creedmoor. The initial rationale was Precision Rifle Course competitions so the round could be fired fast at long range through an AR-10 type rifle. "Why?" seems to be sort of elusive, but there you have it. PRC mimics field shooting for game in no way whatsoever.<br />
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If the 6.5CM is the 260 Remington ballistically...then the 6CM is pretty much indistinguishable from the .243 Winchester circa 1953 although most rifles will come with a tighter twist. How this differs from a "Fast twist .243" that's been available for years somehow escapes me. I've already been contacted and asked what I think about the 6CM for long range moose hunting. Just because someone sticks a new name on the case and sticks a bullet in it that looks like something from an Area 51 test lab doesn't make it a good hunting round or even a good idea.<br />
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I'm all for a better mousetrap, but at this point we're simply rebranding ballistics we've had for three generations and that seems silly.<br />
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Meanwhile the common as dirt .30-06 with a 4x scope is seen as incapable of shooting something outside of a pen.hodgemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07632228055641750343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1275472535850559245.post-69664004421623374842016-12-11T15:10:00.000-08:002016-12-11T15:10:22.253-08:00.22 Aguila 60gr. Subsonic Sniper or....a Dry Treatise on Bullet Stabilization<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0sw4wT_xjW_DwnvNFMK3J_tax-a6taRZwic6xMtvwJzcqytkmqIGxf51UDrLDQUwmYrpwOVhR-CtP4wIyhg1BQrmiFpwqcTMoZVnJqqOMAcK6XiSYRvpKDqdAdtpSl2CYgK72tuPBQTI/s1600/grouse.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0sw4wT_xjW_DwnvNFMK3J_tax-a6taRZwic6xMtvwJzcqytkmqIGxf51UDrLDQUwmYrpwOVhR-CtP4wIyhg1BQrmiFpwqcTMoZVnJqqOMAcK6XiSYRvpKDqdAdtpSl2CYgK72tuPBQTI/s320/grouse.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
I'll say right at the beginning, I am an unrepentant grouse junkie. Particularly, ruffed grouse. I'm sure some folks in the sporting dog/tweed jacket/ double game gun crowd would think I deserve to go to hell for my approach, but I am an avid eater of ruffed grouse and will shoot them with relish whenever I find one. Up here (and most places they live actually), ruffed grouse are a highly cyclical species, and the years they are up...you'd better take advantage of them because you might not even see one the next year. I will and have shoot grouse with whatever weapon I have closest at hand. I've taken grouse with shotguns, .22s, centerfire rifles, airguns, archery tackle, a slingshot and one fortunately thrown stick of firewood.<br />
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Earlier this week, I finished up working on some writing assignment and went out for a bit of air before the sun set. Of course, the sun was setting at 3:00 in the afternoon this time of year, but no matter. The important thing is, I saw a trio of ruffed grouse happily roosting away in the swaying branches of a balsam poplar just across my rural road. I hastily donned boots, a jacket and grabbed my much loved CZ .22 from the rack and headed out to round up supper.<br />
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Being that I try to be a good neighbor, I tend to try to reduce the racket of gunfire around the house. I've shot a number of critters with CB caps, shorts and assorted flavors of "subsonic" ammunition. As a contributing factor, stocks of .22 ammunition are only of late starting to be more available and I'm still unable to replenish my supply of CBs and CCI Green Tag subsonic ammunition. A few weeks ago, the local hook and bullet got in some Aguila ammunition and the proprietor suggested I try the 60gr Sniper Subsonic. And that was what the rifle was loaded with.<br />
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I trotted across the road, rifle in hand, and was soon under the bare branches of the poplar looking up at the plump undercarriages of the grouse. A shot into the underside of the grouse does a couple of things, it absolutely kills them and doesn't tear up the edible bits on the breast or legs. At the shot the first grouse simply folded up and fell off the branch. The shot wasn't loud, just a pop a little louder than my suppressed air gun makes. The remaining two didn't even twitch and soon shots two and three had them in hand with the first. Satisfied with grocery shopping, I carried them inside to dress them out.<br />
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By this point in my life, I've shot and butchered (literally) hundreds of small game animals with a .22 rifle and at least two dozen varieties of ammunition. I've never seen anything quite like the carcass. The range was pretty short, 40 or 50 feet, but speed alone couldn't account for the mess the round made of all three birds. The hardest hit had a hole in the back large enough for three fingers to fit in. Grouse are lightly built creatures and a .22 most generally bores a caliber sized hole clean through. Even expanding rounds like hollow points generally won't expand much, if any, on the trip through a grouse or ptarmigan. Besides, the Aguila round isn't an expanding design at all.<br />
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The Aguila is simply a .22 Short casing with an extra long plain lead bullet stuck on top of it. It's rated for a moderate muzzle velocity of just 950 feet per second. Holding one up to a ruler shows the bullet is just over 1/2" long or so depending on the heel of the bullet in the case- which by .22 Rimfire standards is simply enormous. The Aguila people suggest that they only be used in barrels that are 20" long or more for best accuracy and my CZ is equipped with a 25" barrel. A little research on the Internet had numerous folks suggesting that the bullets are barely stable in flight and tumble on impact causing significant damage.<br />
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And that my friends...sounded like a bunch of hooey.<br />
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So I did what any self respecting rifle crank and shooting geek would do. I set up a test. It wasn't even much of a test. I simply took the ammo out at 25 yards and shot a common cardboard box. For a control I shot 5 rounds of CCI Stingers, a 32gr bullet at 1640fps. It's both ends of the .22 ammunition spectrum- a long heavy bullet loping along and a short light one smoking along at twice the speed.<br />
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This is the result from the Aguila-<br />
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And this is the result of the CCI-</div>
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As you can clearly see, the CCI punched nice clean <i>round</i> holes through the cardboard. The Aguila punched <i>oblong</i> holes and looks like the bullets were impacting sideways...<b><u style="font-style: italic;">because that's exactly what they did.</u> </b>No wonder those grouse were so torn up, they had a spinning 60 grain, 0.224"x 0.625" cylinder of lead smashing through them. While the effect was deadly, an unstable bullet gives lousy accuracy. If those grouse had been in a higher tree or simply further away, I might have missed completely despite being within "gimme" range with an accurate .22 rifle. While my test wasn't geared for accuracy- the group size was three times that of the CCI Stinger and that bullet is pretty mediocre in my rifle. (Authors note- the test was simply firing offhand while freezing in the arctic air. No commentary on my shooting, I was simply looking for impact marks.)<br />
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My CZ has a barrel that is 25" long, well over the suggested length by Aguila. I attempted to conduct the same test with my Ruger Bearcat revolver and after 5 shots, hadn't managed to even hit the target. Since it was -11F, I assumed the accuracy is so dismal from a handgun that it was pointless to keep shooting until I hit one by luck. My CZ (and most other .22s on the market) have a barrel twist of 1 turn in 16". That's been the standard twist rate on .22s for just about forever and is completely adequate for virtually every variety of .22 ammunition out there...except this one apparently.<br />
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I must confess. At this point, I'm not even sure what this ammunition is good for. I suppose a person could have a .22 LR barrel fabricated with a faster twist, perhaps to use this ammunition with a suppressor, but you'd have a spendy, purpose built gun to use with a single variety of ammunition. Some rifles may in fact stabilize this ammunition, but I would certainly suggest you try it first before you lay in a large supply. It looks neat, and for close range work it did suffice with tremendous result, but nothing you could rely on at any reasonable distance.<br />
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It's an interesting concept, but at this point I'm inclined to regard it as a novelty.hodgemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07632228055641750343noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1275472535850559245.post-32277346288958769172016-12-03T17:40:00.000-08:002016-12-03T17:40:23.319-08:00The Practical Hunting Battery- RevisitedIt's cold outside, time to get back to blogging a bit. I've had a very busy fall season.<br />
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Back in the way back when, circa 2009, I wrote a piece about the minimum practical hunting battery. It's been one of the most viewed articles I've posted. That was eight years ago and my hunting has changed a little since then as well as some new things on the market and other market forces are at work.<br />
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<u>The Big Game Rifle</u>- The centerfire hunting rifle is the centerpiece of most folks hunting battery over much of the west as well as the rest of the country. While folks continue to attempt to press the AR platform into the big game rifle role, what we're really talking about here is a scoped bolt action. New rifles are lighter and more accurate than ever. Something on the order of a .30-06 or .300WM is probably about right. I've experimented with quite a few cartridges since I wrote that first piece and came away unimpressed with several. I've shot game with the 7-08, .270, .338WM and two flavors of .375. For an "all around" rifle in Alaska, the .300 or '06 makes a sensible choice. My current favorite rifle, a Nosler 48 in .300WSM has performed splendidly on a number of animals up to, and including, moose. A rifle in the finished weight of 7.5-8.5 pounds is about right for the balance between portable and shootable. In deer country, the 7-08 would be better than fine and it's my preference over the .270 Winchester. With modern bullets, the .338 and .375s are just much more than you need for the bulk of N.American hunting. A good bolt action with a decent scope in '06 or .300 is all you really need.<br />
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I've largely abandoned cartridges larger than that. My frequent hunting partner has made some great shots with his .338 as well as his .375 H&H. It worked, but there is only one degree of dead. I'm impressed with modern bullets and powders more and more and think that until game gets very large, the .30 cal is more than capable. I tipped over a bull moose this year with my .300WSM at a lasered 360 yards. Not sure more gun would have really helped much. I've done a lot of hunting with the .308, the .30-06 and the .300 and never really regretted it. In the Lower 48, a hunter could easily get by with the .270 or 7-08 and never come up under gunned.<br />
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<u>The Rimfire</u> - Market forces, being what they are, have largely seen the availability of .22LR vanish for much of the previous 7 years in a lot of the country and in my location- I went 4 or 5 years without seeing a single box on the shelf. I was a huge fan of the .22LR. Not so much now. What the intervening years did was turn me into much more of a shotgunner. I still have a pretty nice .22 rifle, but I seldom shoot it for anything other than the off grouse or marauding squirrel. The bulk of my small game hunting is now done with a shotgun. I've also taken up water fowling since the original article was written. I think the rimfire still has a place in most folks' hunting arsenal but non-exisant and more spendy ammunition took the luster off of it for me. My current .22 is a CZ 452 Trainer with a nice set of iron sights.<br />
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I'm not sure that the .22LR market will ever truly recover to a state I recognize, but if I were picking a rimfire today to go forth and shoot small game and get in some low cost practice- I'd go to the .17HMR and never look back.<br />
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<u>The Shotgun</u>- I took up shotgunning a few years ago when I picked up a Benelli M2. I kinda messed around with it some but the utter lack of .22 ammunition really got me going. I really think if a hunter is going to have one shotgun to do it all- a self loading 12 gauge with a 3" chamber has much to recommend to it. It's overkill for the majority of grouse hunting, except spooky sharp tails in open country, but it's perfect for ducks and geese. You could try to get by on waterfowl with a 20 gauge, but that's mostly a waste of time in the era of steel shot. I even picked up an 18" barrel for it to keep in camp.<br />
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Once you start exploring some of the offering with shotgun ammunition- things get interesting. I've even taken mine predator calling- loaded with Heavy-Shot "Dead Coyote" ammunition. I've enjoyed using the shotgun more and could easily see my way to a whole rack of them- but if I had to pick one, a 12 ga. 3" auto is it.<br />
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On that note. The construction of that self loading shotgun matters too. After messing with some gas operated guns- the kick a fair bit less but they weigh a lot more and seem pretty fussy. The Benelli Inertia system is now being copied by several makers and it flat out works well and isn't overly heavy or complicated. If I were shopping for a new shotgun- Inertia drive would be where I started.<br />
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<u>The Extra</u>-<br />
I've tried a bit of this and that over the last few years. An air gun was pretty neat and I've done some good hunting with it. I've also gotten into archery, great fun but I haven't pursued big game with it yet. I've used some antique shotguns as something of an aesthetic pursuit. Though, at the end of the day- those three guns are what i reach for when I head out and I'm pretty confident I could use those three pieces for 99% of any hunting I'd do.hodgemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07632228055641750343noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1275472535850559245.post-76523559979161988862016-06-18T23:21:00.001-07:002016-06-18T23:21:47.638-07:00Youth Shotguns...Too Little, Too Late.I got into some different correspondence today...specifically about starting off a youngster with a shotgun. The question was, "What .410 is best to start a kid with?".<div>
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The answer: "There isn't one."</div>
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It seems a time honored tradition that you start a young hunter out with the diminutive .410 shotgun. In days past it was typically a single but pumps and even a couple of autoloaders have been manufactured. The rationale behind the choice is that the light recoil will encourage better shooting. If it were a rifle, I'd agree. But it's a shotgun, so I don't. Not at all.</div>
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Here goes the long winded explanation. The shotgun kills with pellets. The number of pellets gives you pattern density. Pattern density dictates how far away you can kill stuff. Simple? Not really. The typical .410 load of #7.5 shot is 1/2 to 11/16 ounces. The typical 20 gauge is firing 7/8 to 1 and 1/4 ounces of shot. That's 175-241(.410) compared to 306-437 (20 gauge) individual pellets in an individual shell. Considering it only takes one lethal pellet to kill... the 20 gauge is clearly a more powerful and lethal round. Hands down, no way around it. The 20 gauge will fire more pellets, have higher pattern density and be lethal at a longer range and be way more forgiving.</div>
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What about recoil? The .410 firing a 3" load in a 5.5 gun generates 10 ft/lbs of recoil force compared to 16 ft lbs for a light field load in a 20 ga. Is that significant? Maybe if you have your kid shooting 12 rounds of trap every day but for the average kid getting to blast a box periodically and maybe go shoot a grouse or some rabbits... it amounts to nothing. Any kid old enough to carry a lethal gun can stand up to 16 ft/lbs of recoil force, which is roughly equivalent to the 7-08 in a light rifle. There are a number of light loads available and a slightly heavier 20 gauge is going to have less felt recoil than a light .410 gauge.</div>
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My first shotgun? A .410. My kid's first shotgun? A .410. The wrong choice on both counts. A generational bad decision that keeps propagating.</div>
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My early attempts on squirrels with an ancient, hand me down .410 were abysmal and I quickly learned I was far deadlier with a .22 to much further than the .410 could be counted on. My son's results were much the same- after he let fly at a rabbit at a mere 20 yards and the rabbit ran off he was dejected. Dirt flew up all around the rabbit but he never left a drop of blood. He was simply in a hole in the pattern of the feeble payload. A 20 gauge would have provided one dead rabbit. It was shortly after this affair that I outfitted my son with a small frame 20 gauge pump and his lethality in the field went from zero to 100% in a single season. He took squirrels, hares, grouse, ptarmigan and loved that if he could get within thirty yards- he could seal the deal. He never made a comment about the recoil either. I've long held that recoil is only felt at the range. On game, I can't recall anyone ever talking about recoil- even at stout levels.</div>
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The .410 is very pleasant to fire, but lacks the killing power to give kids a good chance on game. I feel you're better off letting them feel some thump and give them some field success than playing softball on recoil and giving them a lot of frustration in the field. I think as a community we get this wrong all the time. </div>
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So what good is the .410? The .410 is a wonderful little cartridge and can make a wonderful light shotgun in the hands of a pro that points like a magic wand. In the hands of a kid it's a frustration, in the hands of an old master- it's a joy. The light gun weight and low recoil make shooting pleasant and the lack of pellets provide the level of challenge that many accomplished folks crave. Kids are still learning the basics and nothing like field success encourages more practice. </div>
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The .410 is widely promoted as ideal for beginners and that's all wrong in my book. We should be promoting it to the masters, right alongside the 28 gauge. </div>
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For a kid- the 20 gauge firing light loads is where it's at.</div>
hodgemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07632228055641750343noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1275472535850559245.post-55317535674196792942016-05-15T23:04:00.002-07:002016-05-15T23:04:49.735-07:00The .308 Winchester....or Mr. Big Enough<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I get a pretty routine amount of correspondence regarding cartridge selection for Alaska hunting and a typical query goes something like this..."I've got a .308 but I want to go moose hunting..." or some variation on that theme. Typically, someone will have a rifle they've used elsewhere but after reading a bunch of Internet chit chat they have become convinced that their deer gun is suddenly inadequate for hunting in the North. They might come to that conclusion through a variety of reasons- moose, bears, long range, or some combination of the above but all come to the conclusion that the .308...is somehow...inadequate.<br />
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On the other hand, I'm pretty plugged into the Alaska hunting community and am friends with a large number of very successful hunters. I was treated to a photo last week of a couple of friends of mine- a married couple- who explore much of Alaska and hunt extensively. The photo was from their spring bear hunt on Kodiak Island chasing the island's world famous brown bears. I'll not spoil the story should they ever decide to tell it and, besides, this story is about the .308 Winchester. Suffice to say the archetypical animal that inspires thousands to purchase true elephant guns in their pursuit fell to a single broadside shot from a .308 Winchester. And this couple are not just some lucky fools who happened to make it work once. They hunt bears, goats, sheep, moose, caribou and everything else on a near constant basis. Hubby is something of a rifle crank like I am but the wife is a "dyed in the wool" fan of the .308 in her bobbed Kimber Montana. It's the rifle she shoots the most, shoots the best and has bagged about one or five of everything there is to shoot here. Including now, a nine and one-half foot Kodiak bear...on the heels a 62" moose a couple years ago and a mountain goat last year.<br />
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Putting the 180 grain bullet at a plodding 2600 feet per second where it goes is much more important that a heavier bullet or a faster bullet. The fact that the world's most popular hunting cartridge is now the .308 isn't likely an accident either although worldwide acceptance isn't a wholly deciding factor alone- look at the AK47...easily the most common rifle on the planet with little to recommend it.<br />
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I'll digress....<br />
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I've had a very long association with the .308 and have taken a sizable number of animals with it, including my nicest caribou- a true old giant of a beast as far as caribou go. I wandered away from the .308 some time back, partially out of sheer boredom but I could easily go back to it as an all around rifle. I would do so with total confidence too. I've had .308s from Remington, Kimber, Winchester and of course, my Steyr. There's nothing I wouldn't hunt in Alaska with any of them. I handled a wonderful Sako Carbonlight a few months back and while the price tag could induce a coronary....I could happily hunt with it until the end of my hunting career and never look back.<br />
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There are plenty of old gun hands who dismiss the .308 as "inferior" or "weak" or any other such nonsense claims. Reading some of the older writers, they claim it's only good for Girl Scouts or to cycle through the M14 shooting diminutive Communists in some far off land. It was poppycock then and it still is.<br />
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I'll not bore the reader with the tale of the .308- that history is well documented- but we'd do well to remember that the ballistics that made the storied reputation of the .30-06 are <u>exactly</u> the ballistics offered in modern .308 ammunition. A 150gr at 2800, a 165 at 2700 and a 180gr at 2600. Modern .30-06 ammunition will typically get about an additional 100 feet per second added to those figures in sporter length barrels. It's my experience that those 100 fps do exactly nothing in terms of greater wounding or trajectory over typical distances. The bonus is that the .308 is available in some really great rifles- of particular interest are the super light rifles and carbines like those from Kimber and Sako. There is not a real advantage in picking the .308 in a 9 pound rifle.<br />
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However, a 6 pound rifle is a completely different matter and a short action will typically drop 6-8 oz from the weight of the action. It's no trick to get a hunting ready rifle in .308 under 7 pounds and not unusual to get under 6 pounds. The .308 case is a model of efficiency and gets full ballistic potential from barrels as short as 20". A svelte little carbine like the Sako Finnlight or Kimber Adirondack might give you a tangible advantage as you climb through 5000' or whack your way through some alder choked hell. That's a much more tangible thing to consider than some arbitrary numbers in a ballistic table.<br />
<br />
We'd also do well to remember that while a certain level of power is desirable, ability to shoot proficiently is mandatory. Having cool nerves and utmost confidence in your ability will serve you better than the latest "uber magnum" headstamp. Knowing where to shoot something and that the bullet will hit what you aim at is far more important than any other factor in killing animals. There's a 9.5 foot Kodiak bear that learned that last week... and we should too.<br />
<br />hodgemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07632228055641750343noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1275472535850559245.post-9147088619268985622016-03-25T19:18:00.001-07:002016-03-25T19:18:11.174-07:00The Contents of a Man’s Pockets...(a Rant)<br /><div class="MsoNormal">
(Author's note: this is the closest thing you'll get to men's fashion advice in this column...)</div>
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There seems to be a movement afoot wherein grown men become
very conscious about the contents of their pockets. The movement is called EDC,
which is an acronym for Every Day Carry. While I will wholeheartedly agree that
grown men typically have responsibilities that require the lugging about of
certain material goods, the movement has taken on an air of man-boy dress up. I
get that adult life can indeed take some very weird turns, and as a good Boy
Scout you should “Be Prepared”. Sometimes that train of thought can run on some
pretty bizarre tracks.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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Case in point, in researching one of the many blogs
dedicated to EDC, readers of the blog take some sort of photo of their “EDC
Kit” and post it up for other readers to comment upon. One thing that struck
me, is that most of the photos had far more crap in them than most folks carry
on a daily basis. One sample had a full size 1911 handgun, a spare mag, a small
revolver, two flashlights, and (no kidding) three knives as well as one
multi-tool. I doubt very seriously any grown man packs that much crap on a
daily basis going about a workaday life- even a workaday life that might
involve physical violence. One thing curiously absent was a key ring. Given the
presumption that the poster was indeed a grown man, one would assume you’d have
some level of responsibility for managing a key of some sort. Close to 10
pounds of steel rummaging around in your pockets or belt and no key to a house,
car, office, etc. I call Walter Mitty on this one.<o:p></o:p></div>
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One of the things that also struck me strange is the
counterpoise to the entire EDC movement, which is The Minimalists. It is not <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>unusual for these folks to not carry much at
all-no watch, no wedding band, only a tiny sliver of aluminum or leather that
holds a driver’s license and a couple of credit cards. No cash, certainly
nothing in the way of a firearm, no pocketknife. About the only thing for
certain is a giant, honking smart phone which might very well replace a full
sized computer in their home. It is as if any sort of material good is a
physical encumbrance that goes beyond what is acceptable. A wallet or watch
might slow them down or tax their stamina beyond the limit. I’ve even seen ads
for a new smartphone technology that eliminates the need for a credit or ATM
card- your phone can be used to get cash or pay for purchases directly. Sounds
like a complete disaster.<o:p></o:p></div>
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So here is my view from middle age in my not so humble
opinion on what every grown man ought to carry on a daily basis.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The required…<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Wallet- if you’re a grown man, you need a
wallet. Period. You’ll need to carry some form of ID, most likely an ATM and
credit card, insurance card, a photo of the family for the married man (or a
list of phone numbers for the bachelor). In my youth, I’d sure hate to trust
the number of a knock out redhead I just met to some digital ether. And
speaking of phone numbers, a grown man ought to have a business card or two in
there. Nothing fancy, but opportunity strikes when you least expect it. A
wallet also needs to be leather. A nylon number that closes with Velcro is fine
if you’re in junior high- adulthood is different. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A well-made wallet can outlast you. A wallet
with a chain attached to your belt? Do I really need to go there?<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Cash- to go in that wallet. There is nothing
that points to adolescence like being financially naked. There is simply no
excuse for a grown man to be rolling around with just a couple of bucks. While
I’ll admit there is a practical limit here; a man should be able to buy a tire,
buy dinner, and buy a few groceries or a tank of gas without whipping out the plastic.
A surprising number of life’s minor disasters can be readily solved by the
application of a couple of Benjamins. Nothing says “adult” like paying the
dinner tab (and the tip) with a single bill of currency in the check and
walking out of the restaurant.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Watch- a grown man is going to have some level
of responsibility. Part of that responsibility involves getting to places on
time. Punctuality is the basic level of respect you give other people- give it
and expect it from others. I know your dang phone has a clock on it, I get it;
but a man looking at his watch and a man looking at his phone portrays two very
different messages. I can subtlety (or not so subtlety) glance at my watch and
frown at some chatty Kathy to let them know that I value my time and have more
pressing matters to attend to. Looking at your phone just makes you one more of
zombiefied masses so common today. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
speaking of a watch, it needs to do two things- tell the time and tell the date.
Gadgetry need not apply. Calculator watches were cool when you were a kid and
there is simply no need for a watch with an altimeter and GPS to keep you
moving smoothly through your day. A giant dive watch is only appropriate if
you’re a professional diver or a submarine captain (you’re neither so don’t).
The construction of a watch is also important. A jewel encrusted golden
monstrosity identifies you as a cheesy used car salesman or some other similar
over-compensator trying desperately to impress when you bring nothing of value
to the table. A plastic digital watch is practical and frugal- but as a man of
some means you get some leeway here- a stainless or titanium watch is always a
good move and appropriate everywhere in all situations. A good watch is an
investment, spend some of that hard earned money and you only need one. (Ladies,
a nice classic watch is the perfect gift).<o:p></o:p></div>
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<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Jewelry. Unless we’re talking a wedding band,
don’t. Class rings, frat rings, etc. are a nice memento but have no place in an
adult wardrobe. In a similar vein, bracelets, chains, pinky rings, etc. make
you look like a complete douche. A man’s jewelry is a wedding band and a watch.
Period. And speaking of wedding bands- an appropriate wedding band is plain. A
woman’s engagement ring and wedding band is a sign of prowess and status. A
man’s wedding band is your wife marking her territory, no need for flash here.
Metal type isn’t particularly important; gold is traditional, platinum is
really too soft for a man’s ring and titanium and other exotic materials are
just fine and perhaps more practical. The newer “action bands” made of plastic
or silicon are tacky. If you’re engaged in high risk activities like sky
diving, MMA fighting or running a machine mill where a ring presents a hazard…just
take it off. Tattooed wedding bands? Just no.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Pocket knife- carry a dang knife…you are not a
child. Unless you’re on a plane then you should have a knife in your pocket.
There is no need to go wild here. A knife is man’s first tool and contrary to
all the shrinking violets out there- a knife is a terrible weapon. As a grown
man you will undoubtedly have to open mail, open a box, cut a rope or some
other similar task that requires a blade. A giant knife is generally not
required, after all I’ve butchered a bull moose with a 3” folding knife and
bigger would have been a hindrance rather than a help. Multi-tools can be handy
but on most folks they look as nerdy as packing a shortwave radio. A good
quality knife says a lot about the man carrying it and the world is chock full
of perfectly acceptable ones. Oh, it should be sharp, a dull knife carries a
message too… a bad one.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">6.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Key ring- as a grown up you likely have some
keys. You’re probably in a senior enough position to warrant a key to the
office or other workplace. You should have a key to the house or apartment.
Despite the proclivity of automakers to drift toward keyless cars, most of you
will need an automotive key, depending on locale- you’ll have a post office box
key. A simple key ring is fine. They’re keys, not a fashion statement. Needless
to say, you should avoid nonsense key fobs like fart noise makers and what not.
A functional key fob like an LED button light is totally ok. If your key ring
looks like you work at the county jail, you might need to rethink what you’re
packing around. Needless to say, a beer bottle opener on your key ring
identifies you as a juvenile who lacks either an imagination or a rudimentary
understanding of physics. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">7.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Phone- adult life will almost certainly require
you to carry a phone in the modern era. Consider it a necessary evil or a minor
inconvenience at best. The zombie hordes run around all day staring into their
phones oblivious to everything around them. That’s stupid- while rare, if you
walk around in Condition White all the time someone might cut off your head and
put it on a stick. Be present where you are and for God’s sake, don’t look at
your stupid phone while being addressed by your superiors. It’s rude, and they
won’t forget it.</div>
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As an aside on the phone: Texting.
Texts are for limited communications… like “Can you pick up a gallon of milk?”
with the response of ”Will do.” That’s texting appropriately. If you need to
carry on a long discourse with several decision points just call them- you have
a phone in your hand after all. The younger generation seems to have forgotten
that phones are for talking. I’m in the minority here, but I hate texting. It’s
the lowest echelon of human communication.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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The maybe….<o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">8.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->A pistol- lots of fluff on this one. Some folks
habitually carry a firearm and others do so vocationally. I’ve got no issue
with either provided it’s kept within the limits of reasonable. I’ve seen a
number of folks packing heat in the open; it’s legal here but it still makes
you look like a mouth breather man-boy playing livestock movement technicians
and indigenous peoples (unless you also happen to be wearing a uniform). A gun
is not a fashion or political statement, and anyone who tries to make one
either needs a serious butt kicking. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Packing heat should be a serious and discreet
activity for a lot of good reasons and that means concealed. That would favor
smaller weapons and given the popularity of concealed carry in the modern era,
makers produce a whole host of suitable pieces. A look at someone’s daily carry
gives you a good idea of their occupation, their level of paranoia, or more likely
their proclivity to fantasies about zombies and foreign invasions. Most of the
opinion on knives and watches translates here- too big is bad, too gadgety is
bad, too tiny is bad. If you find it required to pack a service pistol, a
reload and a smaller revolver on top of that I would suggest either a new job,
a shrink or a new zip code. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The “Just say no”….<o:p></o:p></div>
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There is a never ending list of
paraphernalia that folks carry around. I’ve seen tactical flashlights on a lot
of lists- could be handy in a given situation but most likely not in everyday
life. I’ve seen some pretty esoteric stuff too- like a 6” long titanium prybar.
I have to wonder how often a guy might suddenly need a prybar without warning
and if you did how well a 6” version would work. I’ve also seen a whole host of
miniaturized tools. As a guy who’s done a lot of mechanical work, substitutions
for actual tools usually just spell disaster in the form of busted knuckles and
stripped bolts. I know the appeal is that you’ll suddenly need a 10mm wrench
and your savvy preparations will save the day when you effect whatever repair
with a mini tool you just happened to have in your pocket. Truth be told,
you’ll spend $50 for a worthless titanium piece of stock with a 10mm EDM hole
in it that you’ll forget about every single time you need a 10mm wrench. It
will then live in the bottom of a drawer or your glove box forever.</div>
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<span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">I’m a wilderness guy and have a
whole kit of goods that I take there. On a lot of folk’s lists I saw a lot of
fire-making kits, compasses, small axes, and one guy claimed to EDC a breakdown
spear point. Given that most of these folks are straight up urban cube rats, I
find it hard to believe that on the way to the office they’ll suddenly need a
friction fire, a fresh cut sapling to make a fish spear and to navigate cross
country out of the blue. There’s prepared and then there’s out of touch with
reality.</span></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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To end my rant, I get that modern
life has stripped a lot out of masculinity. Being a man who makes his living
staring into an illuminated rectangle all day certainly doesn’t have a
satisfying snap like gunning down big game and roasting its flesh over an open
flame does. I even get that in today’s precarious times that the downward tug
of a pound and a half of stainless steel .45 automatic on your hip sure does
ease the apprehension about driving through certain parts of town. We’re men,
it is part of our ethos to be the prepared, to be the fixer, the problem
solver. For many of us, that’s a part of life that is sorely lacking. But
buying a whole bunch of bespoke gadgets to fill your pockets with won’t fill
the void, for that you need confidence and you earn that with callouses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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hodgemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07632228055641750343noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1275472535850559245.post-85823103903475785142016-03-15T00:04:00.001-07:002016-03-15T00:04:30.081-07:00Snowmachines...more Dangerous than a Loaded Gun.<div style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
An interesting few days in the news regarding snow machines (snowmobiles for you Canadians and other illiterate types)...just kidding, snow machine is a fixed part of the Alaska lexicon, other places? Not so much.</div>
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But I digress-</div>
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In a widely circulated story- an intoxicated man hit two Iditarod teams in two seperate incidents over the weekend killing a dog and injuring three more. In another breaking story, husband of former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, Todd Palin, is in intensive care after being mangled by a snow machine over the weekend as well.</div>
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But those are just a couple of stor<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">ies that achieved circulation due to the notoriety of those involved. Just about every week some anonymous Alaskan will strain a machine through the trees at high speed or ride one through a hole in the ice or simply get stranded out in the toolies..some of the worst off will trigger an avalanche. Some get rescued, some get medi-vaced, and some get buried. Some just never get found. The really stupid add booze to an already precarious situation. </span></div>
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Bottom line, snow machines as a mechanism of injury know few peers. Be careful out there folks.</div>
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hodgemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07632228055641750343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1275472535850559245.post-41107151305218249422016-03-06T09:54:00.001-08:002016-03-06T09:54:39.175-08:00Archery as Therapy for the Malaise of Middle AgeI'll say at the outset that this is pretty different for me. I've recently taken up archery and have been enjoying it...well, the point of this piece is that it is more than enjoyment. It's therapy.<br />
<br />
Between my professional life as a project manager/planner, an organizational restructuring project, technical writing, a pretty well received op-ed, academic concerns and venting my spleen on political matters in print- it's left my nerves frayed.<br />
<br />
While I'll not bore the reader with an exhaustive discussion of my work life; being the H.M.I.C. of dramatic <i>change</i> is not easy. People resist even positive change and are deeply suspicious of even the purest motives that come with evidence. Change that doesn't come wrapped in such gilded bona fides- well, you can guess. The end of the work day usually ends with a long sigh. On top of that, there is the usual technical writing that accompanies that sort of work. I like it. Sort of. It's writing, but it's dry and devoid of character by design. I've previously compared it to working in a dusty barn- try as you might you can't help but choke on it. It makes me yearn for the days I worked in construction- at the end of the day my body was tired but my mind was clear. My current effort entails sitting on my ass for ten hours and leaving too tired to think.<br />
<br />
While I'll not go into a political discussion (it's neither the intent nor scope of this blog) I will say that the current contentious environment is taxing on the mind. I'm much too old to resign the political arena to my elders and much too young to resign myself to death before I feel the effects of the decision making of the political class. I've written, briefly about it here and there, but I've had to take on the role of outside observer lest it make me absolutely crazy. I did write an opinion piece about the current public land debacle that got picked up by the Anchorage paper and was pretty well received. It was widely circulated on conservation list servers and I felt pretty good about that. Still, in politics it seems like I worry excessively about tempests I can do little about.<br />
<br />
Which brings me to archery.<br />
<br />
Coming home with a bunch of conflicting thoughts bouncing around inside my head isn't really the best way to end the day. When I pick up the bow, those thoughts get quiet. The less contentious get forgotten. Pretty soon I'm not focusing on rate of return or earned value management or delegate assignments or state house bills or much of anything else of that ilk. I'm focusing on compressing 70 pounds of draw weight energy and concentrating it onto the tip of a 30" long carbon fiber arrow. Then unleashing that energy into an equation that is both relatively simple and damnably complex with the hope of driving an arrow into a spot the size of a tennis ball some 30 yards away. And I do it over, and over, and over.<br />
<br />
While I know nothing about "zen", I do know a little about fly-fishing. The physics are there in plain sight but do the slightest thing wrong and the whole system collapses. With the bow, drop your string arm elbow and your point of impact radically changes. Change your anchor and you may not even hit the target. Forget to open your grip and you might sail an arrow into the ethereal beyond. Shooting well requires a complete focus on what you're doing. As I've learned, if you're shooting the bow and thinking about something back at the office you'll soon be thinking about where your $12 arrow just went.<br />
<br />
When you're at full draw you had better be all in the here and now. Unlike rifle shooting, the bow requires a presence. With the rifle, everything except my breath, the trigger and the crosshairs goes away. With the bow I have to be acutely aware of my feet, my back, my arms, my neck, the angles of my legs, the pressure of the release against the back wall. I can break a rifle down into pure math- feet per second, ballistic drop, foot-pounds of energy, time of flight. I can't do that with a bow. That's why bow ads and reviews are so full of subjective language. Non-sensical words like "shootability", "smooth" and "forgiving". Even the mathematical standard for how fast a bow will shoot, IBO speed, has almost zero bearing on how fast it will shoot in the real word. It is <u>delightfully</u> frustrating.<br />
<br />
My job as a planner requires that I spend a lot of my day in the future and my endeavors as a writer usually entails a substantial dwelling on the past. As an archer however- the discipline demands being in the present.<br />
<br />
And that's just what I needed.<br />
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<br />hodgemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07632228055641750343noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1275472535850559245.post-26852620602242599112016-02-20T22:39:00.000-08:002016-02-20T22:39:10.596-08:00Something New...or Strings and Sticks and Assorted Pokey ThingsMy wife generally observes my birthday by <strike>dropping me off</strike> kicking me to the curb out of a moving vehicle in front of the sporting goods store with instructions to "go buy something." If it's not been a very good year, i might walk out with a box of shells or a pack. A good year has seen a nice rifle or two, a shotgun and a new pair of binos. Since I'm firmly ensconced in my "middle youth" I generally just skip intermediary steps and buy what I want from the outset since I'm likely going there anyway.<br />
<br />
I've hemmed and hawed about archery for a couple of years now. I haven't shot a bow even semi-seriously in decades but it is something I've been wanting to try again for no particular reason other than it is a facet of hunting I've got little experience in. Alaska doesn't really have much in the way of a "bow season" the way the Lower 48 does, but we do have a few areas that are relegated to archery only and some fantastic tags there.<br />
<br />
This year, I got kicked to the curb outside the archery shop. Which was pretty nice....so expect to see some archery content in the future. As of now, I've been shooting it for a couple of weeks and managed to take the online portion of my IBEP certification (required in Alaska for bowhunts). The bow is a Mathews No-Cam HTX, which came highly recommended by my archery oriented friends and I have to admit- it's been far easier to pick up than I imagined.<br />
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<br />hodgemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07632228055641750343noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1275472535850559245.post-50329625171784523832016-01-30T17:44:00.002-08:002016-01-30T17:44:50.090-08:00The 7WSM.... An Unloved Cartridge Bargain.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwBFZdLw4Hfh2sXoOvqAtoJERVKBRNTCTHFb6ci00XSPIJW4mh8qWbKmArzs-IcMHkDT9_trIgPl6_0tTmaIhDgZjg07kNoXhjSBTLSEOXtgAc19iB-T5lZEg_LnQ0_ha0vgO3fO-f2UM/s1600/7WSM3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwBFZdLw4Hfh2sXoOvqAtoJERVKBRNTCTHFb6ci00XSPIJW4mh8qWbKmArzs-IcMHkDT9_trIgPl6_0tTmaIhDgZjg07kNoXhjSBTLSEOXtgAc19iB-T5lZEg_LnQ0_ha0vgO3fO-f2UM/s320/7WSM3.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
I must admit that in years past, I was never a fan of the 7mm bore. I had mostly .30 calibers and a couple of .270s. It was a prejudice that really wasn't grounded in anything...just a notion floating around in my brain. I've written a couple times now about the 7-08 and how we've found good success with it. I've also written a couple of times about inexpensive rifles that just perform far beyond what their meager prices should warrant. I've also written about the innate Scot's thriftiness that I've inherited... little did I know that all three of those things would come together in a rifle.<br />
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I was perusing one of the community yard sale boards and came across a rifle. A Winchester Stainless Classic. The asking price wasn't out of line, but it was chambered in the red headed stepchild of the WSM family...the 7WSM. Same concept and case as the rest of the WSMs...basically a 7mm Remington Mag in a short action- 140gr@3200, 150gr@3100 and 160gr@3000fps. On the ammunition market, the 7WSM has proven about as popular as the clap. <br />
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I've truly enjoyed the .300WSM but the7WSM in this rifle simply left me cold. I just ignored it.<br />
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After seeing the rifle hang around for a bit and the owner drop the price a couple of times...I thought that the rifle had potential as a donor for a custom .300WSM at some future date. So I called the owner and basically said something to the effect of, "I have no interest in a 7WSM. I'll give you $400 for the rifle so I can take it apart for a project." I was a little surprised that he bit, and I was the owner of a "new to me" Winchester.<br />
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When I got the rifle home I cleaned it and discovered that it likely didn't have more than a couple boxes of ammo down the bore. Everything internally was essentially new and the exterior only had a couple of handling marks. Big whoop- when I'm done, it will have a bunch of handling marks. The trigger was a horrendous 10lbs or more and the hot glue that Winchester puts on the adjustment nut was still there. The black plastic stock had no bedding and full contact with the barrel channel. The trigger was easy enough to fix since it was the old style "Pre '64" trigger that everyone loves- a nice 3.5lb pull was easily achieved with a lighter and two open end wrenches. The stock would require a lot more to fix but I thought- what the heck, I'll shoot it "as-is" and see what it will do.<br />
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I rounded up a one piece DNZ scope mount and mounted an older Zeiss Conquest 3-9x40 that I had laying about. The scope put the rifle at 8.5lbs on the nose. I took it to the range.<br />
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Three rounds downrange did this-<br />
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That's three rounds of 140gr Winchester "Ballistic Silvertip" at 100 yards. Fired off a shaky folding table over a backpack stuffed with a jacket.<br />
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1.25"....that'll kill stuff as far as I'll shoot at it.<br />
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I'm thinking that I can work with this one and get it to group better by using a better bench and working on the bedding but that's largely just an ego booster. In the field, this gun over a pack from the top of a pressure ridge would kill a caribou from a very long way off.<br />
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Not bad for a $400 rifle wearing a used scope. If you can find one, not such a bad deal when compared to what else you can buy at that price.hodgemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07632228055641750343noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1275472535850559245.post-80399381842708375972016-01-23T21:52:00.002-08:002016-01-23T21:52:11.460-08:00.300 Winchester Short Magnum....15 years of Short and Fat.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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We've just seen the end of S.H.O.T., the Shooting Hunting and Outdoor Trade Show. In the U.S., this is the most likely venue for new product introductions from almost everyone in the industry. While I greeted the offerings this year with a giant yawn- consisting mostly of AR variants and pieces parts- this wasn't always the case.<br />
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Way back in 2001, the folks at Winchester introduced the .300 Winchester Short Magnum in the midst of what some folks have called the Second Magnum Craze. The introduction followed the typical Winchester playbook- great hype in a full court press of magazine articles and a marketing blitzkrieg. One could not open a sporting or shooting magazine without reading an article extolling the virtues of the "Short Magnum".<br />
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Most of it was pure baloney.<br />
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Claims of reduced recoil in the form of "reduced ejecta" sounded just science-y enough to be plausible. Claims of velocities exceeding the well established .300 Winchester Magnum were everywhere you looked. Hyper-ventilation over the joys of a shorter bolt throw were shouted from the heavens. We were treated to a plethora of dead critter photos in print, apparently only possible from the new cartridge. In those days, Winchester was a behemoth in the industry and new guns and ammo sold pretty well.<br />
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It didn't take long for the ever-cynical shooting community to unleash its own torrent of hyperbole. I was told point blank by a savvy rifleman that the cartridge was doomed to obscurity and cash spent on such a rifle was practically flushed. Work with a chronograph soon revealed that Winchester's data had a bit of "blue sky" in it as well (not the first time for that one either) and most folks with production guns with 24" barrels were getting 2900 fps and a bit of change with the 180gr bullets, far short of the promised 3100 fps. Most folks who pulled the trigger on one got belted with enough recoil to make claims of "reduced recoil" sound like the complete rubbish it is. According to a number of Internet Bwanas, the rebated rim practically guaranteed your mauling at the paws of charismatic megafauna when your gun jammed. Some early rifle had feeding issues that did nothing to alleviate those concerns either.<br />
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In those days, you could log into your favorite forum or BBS (remember that!) and read pages of technical minutiae from both sides and when Winchester introduced their follow on family of short cartridges in .270, 7mm, and .325, as well as Remington's competing "short mags".... things kinda went tilt. Suddenly the market had a glut of cartridges that all, pretty much, did the exact same thing.<br />
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What both sides of the debate missed was pretty much everything.<br />
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I came along to the .300WSM in 2006, when I (somewhat reluctantly) purchased a rifle I was in love with. My rifle was a lightweight.... a 6.5 pound rifle for carrying into high and rocky places. I wanted something with enough oomph for the odd grizzly or moose and with enough reach for Dall sheep and caribou over open country. Ammo was fairly expensive compared to .30-06 fodder, but in all reality- most hunters just don't shoot their rifles all that much and with recoil numbers in the 25-29 foot pound range...don't really want to.<br />
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A string of dead critters later and the .300WSM did not disappoint. Since then, every big game animal I've taken with one exception has been with the cartridge. I've now had 3 of the WSM family and just recently purchased a Winchester 7WSM for eventual custom work. My favorite rifle shoots 180 grain bullets into 3/4" at 2925fps with boring regularity. None of the WSM rifles I've had exhibited feeding issues and every one of my acquaintances who have WSMs do not regret the purchase. They just happily head to the field and kill stuff.<br />
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While it may sound like I'm a fanboy, I'm not. The cartridge is, what it is- nothing less or more. A very effective cartridge that gets near .300 Win Magnum performance in a handy sized short action rifle. It's now 15 years old and pretty near ubiquitous on sporting good retailer's shelves and cataloged by almost everyone making guns and ammunition. I expect that it will not be teetering on obsolescence any time soon. It's not magic either- it's just a brass bottle for holding gunpowder and a pretty good one at that.<br />
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<br />hodgemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07632228055641750343noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1275472535850559245.post-69210128021827301012016-01-17T14:34:00.001-08:002016-01-17T14:34:37.702-08:00Ballistic Chit-Chat.... Anecdotal Evidence Pt.3The last couple of years I've posted some results of the terminal performance from the cartridges I've seen used this hunting season in a effort to add to the collective body of knowledge.<br />
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You can find the previous versions <a href="http://hodgemansoutdoors.blogspot.com/2013/11/ballistic-chit-chator-anecdotal-evidence.html" target="_blank">HERE</a> and <a href="http://hodgemansoutdoors.blogspot.com/2015/01/ballistic-chit-chator-anecdotal.html" target="_blank">HERE</a><br />
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So in the similar vein to previous year.<br />
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<u><b>300WSM/ 180 Accubond</b></u>- I took four animals this year with my pet Nosler .300WSM and the 180gr Accubond bullet. The first was a small cow caribou shot at a estimated 40 yards, one shot- bang, flop, DRT. Couldn't be more pleased. Despite nearly full muzzle velocity at impact the bullet did not fragment. Caribou number two was a middling bull shot at a laser ranged 255 yds. One shot broadside and the bull collapsed in a heap. Everything forward of the diaphragm was soup. No bullet fragments were found. Caribou three was a large cow shot at a laser ranged 345 yds. I shot twice and hit both times in the low lungs. One of the shots shattered the breastbone. Again, no fragments or bullets recovered and minimum meat damage. The fourth animal was a unique experience- a wolf shot at an estimated 20'. Shot twice- once too far back and once in the nose that exited below the pelvis- pelt damage made my taxidermist smile at his hourly rate. Not recommended for that purpose- but the encounter wasn't exactly planned (or even desired). The 180AB might be the best general purpose bullet for the 2800-3100fps .300s like the .300WSM, .300WM, .300RSAUM, .300RCM, .300H&H and high performance .30-06s.<br />
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">300WSM/ 180 Federal Soft Point</u>- this is most likely a conventional Speer soft point bullet. Two shots at a middling sized cow at a laser ranged 250yds. Both showed good expansion and the caribou expired on the spot. This is a good economic load for open country shooting at deer, caribou and similar critters.<br />
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">338WM/ 180 Accubond</u>- I saw two caribou shot with this load this year. Both large bulls. One was shot at truly long range- 400+ yards that needed substantial follow up. The tough Accubond in .338 didn't really expand well. The second was shot at 80 yards. The hunter fired three times although he first hit was totally fatal. No fragments found, even on wound channels that contacted bone. The tough Accubond is perfect for this cartridge.<br />
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">7-08 Remington/ 140gr Federal Fusion</u>- this load accounted for two caribou. One a middle sized cow at 100 yards. One and done. Good expansion and exited. The second was a small bull shot at 55yds. Two shots- the first a quartering to that hit slightly high, contacted the spine and tracked under the backstrap and put the bull down. The second was a finisher shot at point blank a few moments later. The first bullet was recovered as shown below. These expanded very well at closer range with higher impact speeds which validated my theory from last year's longer range disappointment. These would do very well at typical deer ranges on deer sized animals. For longer ranges, I'd think a softer or faster bullet would do better.<br />
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<br />hodgemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07632228055641750343noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1275472535850559245.post-81343997439083316442015-12-23T23:26:00.002-08:002015-12-23T23:26:40.099-08:00Survival...the .223 Cartridge.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I occasionally get some interesting mail. A few weeks back, I wrote about the .223 Remington cartridge and espoused my opinion that it makes a pretty poor big game rifle when one considers the available options.<br />
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A few days ago I received an email asking me my opinion on what I thought about the .223 as a "survival cartridge". Well, that's an awfully big subject. "Survival" could be anything from being stuck on your own in a wilderness setting awaiting rescue for a few days to a full blown, end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it scenario.<br />
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Since the author of the email didn't specify- I'll choose the practical more than the fanciful. Let's say you're on your own at a remote cabin and your float plane is delayed for a few days due to foul weather. It's not an imaginary situation- it happens every year here to at least a few hundred people. Combined with a freak accident in which your food supplies went over the bow of the canoe and down the rapids would leave you in a precarious sort of situation. In such a circumstance, any sort of device to procure some grub would be a welcome addition, a .223 included. I'm something of a minority when it comes to "survival rifles"- most are such a collection of compromises that they give up much utility. I've got a normal, light, scoped, bolt action rifle in .223 and it'd be fine in such a scenario.<br />
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Consider that I know many Native people out and about in Bush Alaska who rely on the .223 nearly exclusively for food procurement. I think you'd do just fine with the .223. In my travels I've been to several villages where the only discernible high powered rifles were Ruger Mini-14s firing ball ammunition. I've even seen a photograph of a young girl who'd just decked a rather large polar bear at close range. While such things show you what's possible with the .223, it's highly unadvisable.<br />
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Most of my Inupiat friends shoot the .223 and they shoot seals, hares, ptarmigan and the occasional caribou and manage to do quite alright with it. While I do believe the .223 lacks a lot to be desired in a big game cartridge, it is nearly ideal for head shooting seals. I've never shot a seal (I'm prohibited by law from doing so) but I've seen Native friends do it. It typically is a close range shot, from a good rest and very, very deliberate. Such shooting is perfect for an accurate, low recoil cartridge and Canadian Inuits have used the .222 Remington for years in a similar fashion. Shooting caribou in winter on barren ground makes for easy tracking in snow.<br />
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My Inupiat friends also shoot small game like hares and ptarmigan with the .223 and it does fine. Meat damage isn't as bad as you'd think. This last weekend I shot several ptarmigan with my .223 while predator hunting at about 100 yards or so with no meat damage at all. I've done much worse with a shotgun. Hares are often shot in open country at longer range as well and generally aren't approachable to within shotgun or .22 range when winter hits.<br />
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One thing to consider is that most Native folks aren't going to carry a bunch of different guns- they're going to carry one and a light .223 fits the bill perfectly. In that vein, the .223 works but I still can't see it as a weapon of choice for the big game hunter who is purposely pursuing larger game. As a survival rifle it would fit the bill and extend your range quite a lot on small game over a .22LR or shotgun and still be in the realm of possible should a larger animal present an opportunity. In times of desperation, you make do with what you have.hodgemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07632228055641750343noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1275472535850559245.post-59601300177510787052015-12-13T22:54:00.002-08:002015-12-13T22:54:54.552-08:00Heather's Choice!As frequent readers of this blog know. I view most of the common freeze dried backpacking chow as one of the seven levels of hell. I've been known to chop up a ptarmigan into one, or more frequently just go hungry rather than choke one down. In a heavier camp, I'll drag around cast iron and a cooler and real eggs.<br />
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But that's not always possible when you're backpacking or rafting.<br />
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Enter one Heather Kelly of Heather's Choice. She started in her Anchorage home in 2014, providing meals on a pretty limited basis. Since then, her chow has found it's way to Everest- and into my camp.<br />
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Here's an excerpt:<br />
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"Originally created for those who rely on lots of calories to fuel them in the backcountry, our meals provide healthy, lightweight, sustainably sourced food without sacrificing taste. What we've come to find out is that people from all walks have recognized the importance of our meals; sailors, pilots, military personnel, and those who value emergency preparedness.</div>
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We use the highest quality proteins to create balanced, satisfying meals. Our current menu includes smoked wild caught Alaskan sockeye salmon, 100% grass-fed bison, 100% grass-fed elk, as well as humanely harvested venison, antelope and quail. These proteins not only provide you with high-quality nutrition, but are also sourced in a way that's environmentally friendly."</div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">She had me at salmon, bison and elk...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Now she's looking to grow and funding it through a Kickstarter campaign....a concept I'm not sure I understand, but then again- I'm an old guy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #0f2105;">But this old guy is putting his money where his mouth is...and thinks you should too.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #0f2105;"><a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/heathertkelly/heathers-choice-meals-for-adventuring" target="_blank">https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/heathertkelly/heathers-choice-meals-for-adventuring</a></span></span></div>
hodgemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07632228055641750343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1275472535850559245.post-82288920659300911762015-12-06T17:07:00.001-08:002015-12-06T17:07:59.119-08:00The Everyman Rifle Project....or A Bang Stick for Everyone Pt. 1It's the onset of Middle Winter, in the lower latitudes they have 4 seasons and so do we...but we have early, middle and late winter making up three of them. Middle winter is the time of short daylight hours, frigid cold temps and long periods indoors. <div>
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In short- the perfect time for a writing project. </div>
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In looking back over the analytics and correspondence, many folks were interested in my last multi-part project on the .30-06 and several more have expressed a lot of interest in "budget" rifles like the Ruger American and Savage Youth Combo that I've reviewed over the last couple of years. Such writing is always fun even if it does take me a little while to finish it. I must admit, I've never been particularly impressed with the way most gun magazines test rifles. For one, they get a gun from a vendor- it may be cherry picked for accuracy or it may be a random selection from a bin, no one knows. Second, they always take the gun and shoot it with a variety of loads or even tailored handloads until they get something that shoots a "sub MOA" group. Third, rarely are any problems reported on the rifle and if they are, it's minimized.</div>
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The bottom line is that gun tests in magazines and blogs very rarely match the way rifles are used in the real world. For instance, I saw a test reporting "outstanding accuracy!" on a budget gun by shooting $85 a box ammunition through a bench clamp. While the test is valid, it ignores the fact most folks shooting $300 rifles are never going to spend $85.00 on a box of ammo or ever shoot the rifle from such a device. With that in mind, what I'm proposing is to do something a little more real world and in order to keep myself on the intellectual straight and narrow, we have to devise some rules. </div>
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So here they are:</div>
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1. Budget Rifle- must be a rifle marketed toward the entry market. For instance, the Ruger American, the Savage Axis, The Savage 11, The Remington 783, The Winchester XPR and the like. We will be somewhat limited on the variety based on what we can scrounge up for test. This is largely driven by Rule #2. An MSRP of approximately $500 for a bare rifle will be the cut off point. There is some discretion on this point driven by the local market being somewhat higher than the Lower 48 and some makers having grossly inflated MSRPs (I'm looking at you Ruger) over what you typically find them for at retail.</div>
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2. Test Rifle- must be a privately owned rifle acquired through normal retail channels. None of these rifles will be acquired from a distributor or manufacturer. These are all the personal property of someone, some of them are mine, some of them belong to friends of mine borrowed for the testing. In short, these are a representative sample of what commonly hits the marketplace.</div>
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3. Ammunition- we will select 2 varieties of hunting ammunition per cartridge out of the readily available box store stock sticking to major makers' lower priced offerings. Federal "Blue Box", Remington Core Lokt , Winchester Power Point and similar. No match ammo or "Premium" makers will be involved in the test. Real world buyers of these rifles don't buy 12 boxes hunting for optimum loads and they don't spend double the cost of the rifle on a few boxes of shells. </div>
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4. Shooting- the rifles will be fired for three shot groups, 3 times by two shooters...or 18 rounds per ammunition type at 100yds. The shooting will occur over an improvised rest, consisting of a folding table, chair, and a backpack (the way guys with $300 rifles do it!). No ransom rest or bull bags. Results will be reported in a table with no "Do-overs", "Mulligans" or "Called Flyers". The 12 groups will be averaged and reported as the definitive "Accuracy" of the rifle. I fully realize that we could squeeze a bit more accuracy out of them by using a concrete bench and bull bags but here's the reason- the same two guys are going to shoot every rifle- which statistically levels the field and the nearest concrete shooting bench is a hundred miles away.</div>
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5. The "Good, Bad, Ugly" Report- the rifle will receive a score on objective criteria such as "Feeds from magazine" as well as some subjective criteria such as "Fit and Finish". I'm still thinking about the best way to this but it will likely look like a value added analysis ( I may be overthinking this a little). It's hard to score rifles on things like stock fit and balance and so forth so we'll try to steer clear of elements without a firm metric. We'll report such things as a "Notes" entry.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
There's the criteria and at this point, I'll invite readers to suggest edits to the rules. I'm very much open to suggestions on this but I need to nail it down before the shooting starts. So please make your suggestion in the comments of via email. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
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Thanks,</div>
<div>
Hodgeman</div>
hodgemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07632228055641750343noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1275472535850559245.post-48350571440430346732015-11-26T09:38:00.001-08:002015-11-26T09:38:59.703-08:00Happy Thanksgiving!Happy Thanksgiving!<br />
<br />
I'd like to take this time to wish all my readers a very, happy Thanksgiving. I'd contemplated a piece wherein I list and talk about all the things I'm thankful for, but that would be a very long article indeed.<br />
<br />
Suffice to say, I feel blessed beyond measure- a great year, great friends, and many adventures enjoying the beauty and bounty of the land. I wish the same for you too.<br />
<br />
Happy Thanksgiving,<br />
Hodgemanhodgemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07632228055641750343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1275472535850559245.post-9225743064625140552015-11-23T21:57:00.000-08:002015-11-23T22:28:19.305-08:00Moving North. Some Unsolicited Advice.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I've gotten the question in email now a few times and in person a lot. So I'll post this out there.<br />
<br />
There are three separate types of regulations for Alaska hunters:<br />
1. Non-residents- U.S. Citizens who don't live in Alaska<br />
2. Non-resident Aliens- non-U.S. Citizens who don't live in Alaska<br />
3. Residents- U.S. Citizens who live in Alaska.<br />
<br />
Residency is slightly complicated but basically requires moving to Alaska and living here full time for the previous 12 months. Residency comes with a lot of benefits for hunters, the first being that a full bore hunting/fishing/trapping license is a mere $62 and lot of areas and tags are <i>resident only</i>.<br />
<br />
For the Non-Resident folks-<br />
<br />
I often get asked by people who relocate here about ponying up the substantial dollars for a non-resident license while they're counting down the 12 months to residency. Often thinking they'll get out there for an early win on moose or caribou. Well, a non-resident hunting license is $230 and you'll need a non-refundable moose tag for $400 (or a caribou for $325).<br />
<br />
In short- don't. The rationale, few folks can hit the ground running after moving here. Moving here can be a bit daunting and a whole lot expensive. You'll not likely have much (if any) scouting, you'll be unfamiliar with the terrain and regulations and your chances of success are pretty slim without some inside help. If you want to hire a guide then of course all bets are off and you should buy a non-res license. If you are a non-resident alien- you'll need to hire a guide for all big game anyway.<br />
<br />
What to do? My recommendation has always been to buy a small game license in that first year. For a couple of reasons. One, small game hunting is a great way to meet other hunters and learn how to read regulations and scout areas. Two, we have some phenomenal small game hunting that is worth spending the time exploring. A non-resident small game license is a mere $20 and is likely the best non-resident hunting bargain up here.<br />
<br />
So far, a few folks have taken this advice and most reported they were happy to have done so. One gentleman reported he couldn't manage to find a grouse, much less a moose, his first year here and was happy to have not spent the substantial bucks for a big bowl of non-res tag soup. His second year he had a new resident hunting partner introduced by a mutual friend and some good ideas about where and how to hunt and was successful as a first year resident.<br />
<br />
Just some food for thought.hodgemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07632228055641750343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1275472535850559245.post-64779894774085682422015-11-04T15:42:00.001-08:002015-11-04T20:30:19.841-08:00The .223 Debate... Go Big or Go Home<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0S55YPEOhnbqACPNH7_dShKNVMI-Ks2uQ0rrknEkibLur_7mp6xUpp8Js8MldvsTuNJILWXEGjDdVsjTMQU1ef5w6ZERu02o8aaDRrlMLUlMkTipLs4tquitnHj9Dka7W783ncCjvRlA/s1600/400px-.223_Remington.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="227" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0S55YPEOhnbqACPNH7_dShKNVMI-Ks2uQ0rrknEkibLur_7mp6xUpp8Js8MldvsTuNJILWXEGjDdVsjTMQU1ef5w6ZERu02o8aaDRrlMLUlMkTipLs4tquitnHj9Dka7W783ncCjvRlA/s320/400px-.223_Remington.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
I recently received a piece of correspondence asking my thoughts on the .223 as a big game rifle. I've written briefly on the subject a couple of times and it seems that you can't get on a hunting or shooting forum without seeing this topic come up repeatedly. I only frequent a couple of hunting forums regularly but the topic is a perennial one.<br />
<br />
I could approach the topic from the usual way- which is to procure a whole bunch of data and provide a detailed analysis in regards to the foot pounds of energy at differing ranges, trajectory tables and so forth. Since I've actually shot big game with a .223, I could provide an anecdotal example or two as well. But, I'm not sure I really want to do that. <br />
<br />
I'm sure the debate will carry on about using the .223 for deer regardless of what I write about. <br />
<br />
I will acquiesce that modern bullets have done nothing but improve the .22 centerfire cartridges, in fact all cartridges are more effective than ever with the excellent bullets we have today, but I have a hard time accepting the .223 as a deer cartridge. I've shot a number of big game animals with the .223 and I have to admit, I wasn't really impressed. At close range, with a good bullet... it worked. I also lost the only deer I ever wounded to the .223 as well. I've seen a deer shot with a .22-250 that dropped so fast that I suspected a spinal hit but it was a behind the shoulder lung shot. I could talk about all that stuff in great detail.<br />
<br />
But I won't.<br />
<br />
I'd like to reframe the question from being about the .223 and other .22 centerfires to virtually all other larger centerfire cartridges out there. What you notice is that when you look at the .270 or the .308 or one of the endless 7mm cartridges.... <em>no one questions their effectiveness as a big game rifle. </em>No one. People will argue about which one is their favorite, or the most accurate, or the most efficient, but not their effectiveness. Elmer Keith loathed the .270 (or at least its most vocal proponent- Jack O'Connor) but still used the cartridge for mountain goat. Even when you step down to the mild .243 Winchester, no one really questions whether you're talking about a deer rifle or not. The only debates I've seen are when you get to elk or moose, but even big Western mule deer are seen as .243 country. Most states that regulate a minimum cartridge start with the 6mm/.243 bore. Why? Because it works. I've seen a few deer and a couple of caribou readily decked with the .243 Winchester.<br />
<br />
It's my suggestion that the absence of argument about those standard bore rifles should speak very loudly when choosing a cartridge. Want to kill deer? No one will tell you the .270 won't do the job. Want to deck an elk? Say .30-06 and you'll get little disagreement. Want to kill a caribou? Carry a 7mm and no one will bat an eye. Respond with a .223 for any of those animals and people will be doubtful. With good reason. In Craig Boddington's "North American Hunting Rifles", he pretty well sums it up as "not big game rifles" and leaves it at that. Cooper derisively referred to the .223 as a "poodle shooter". Many people with far more experience than I have are leery of the .223 on deer sized game.<br />
<br />
In my experience, the .223 can work...but you need a good bullet and you need to get close and you need to be really picky about your shot. You might be in for a long tracking job or you might want to take head and neck shots. I'm of the opinion that if you need to make those kinds of stipulations, you really should be thinking about a heavier cartridge to start with. Deer are relatively easy to kill and a .270 will pretty much be forgiving of bullet construction and poor angle, but not the .223. In the bigger cartridges you can argue about what works <em>better</em> but they all <em>work. </em>Virtually any of the standard "deer guns" with a soft point bullet will kill most big game dead as Sunday's fried chicken. I can't say that with the .223. <br />
<br />
I've never seen the point of relying on the absolute bare minimum cartridge when shooting for blood when far better choices are so readily available.hodgemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07632228055641750343noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1275472535850559245.post-55771078951790483732015-10-25T20:49:00.002-07:002015-10-25T20:49:56.793-07:00Early Season, Opportunity and Desire- Pt. 2As the bugs hatched out and became unbearable, we relocated camp to a large gravel flat near a large lake. The wind from the lake would help knock down the bugs and the lack of vegetation gave the wee beasties fewer places to hatch from. While most folks concentrate on the ubiquitous mosquito, the most dreaded insect in this corner of Alaska is the biting gnat. The creature goes by several names- the biting gnat, the biting midge and the "no-see um" the proper name is the one almost no one refers to them by, Ceratopogonidae. No matter- they all refer to a terrible creature, who gnaws a bloody hole in your skin and then apparently craps in the hole for spite. The gnats lay eggs and hatch out in the tussocks of damp mountain tundra and walking across it can raise unbelievable clouds of them. Once they detect a mammal- the females home in and commence to feed on blood as part of the reproductive cycle. Many people have terrible allergic reactions to the proteins in their saliva and break out in huge welts. Camping on dry gravel bands and bars, particularly in wind prone locations can reduce the exposure. Insect repellant is largely ineffective.<br />
<br />
As insignificant as the gnats are- they would play a larger role later tonight.<br />
<br />
After relocating camp, we finished butchering the caribou and hung it up beneath a tarp. The tarp would protect it from sunlight and rain while allowing the cooler breeze to reduce the temperature of the meat. In the cooler temps the meat could safely hang in camp for a couple of days without risk of spoilage. My friend Gary joined us in camp that evening and after a quick late lunch, we assembled his inflatable raft and set sail down a series of chained lakes for an area we'd been successful last year. It was a short trip and we made quick work with a small outboard on the raft.<br />
<br />
We arrived and beached the raft. We climbed a pressure ridge and established a glassing post on the most prominent ridge top. The dry gravel at the top combined with the non-stop breeze of the lake channel kept the gnats at bay, only an occasional one would stray into the area. Finding caribou took less than 5 minutes. A large bull fed his way into view. He looked a long way off but as typical on the tundra, ranges are difficult to estimate. Gary got into a prone position over his daypack and lined up. I did likewise with my .270.<br />
<br />
I asked Gary if he was comfortable with the shot, "It looks long, are you steady on this one?"<br />
<br />
He replied, "Yeah, I've got it. No problem."<br />
<br />
His .338 boomed and I watched the bull hunch up at the impact. It was a solid hit and the bull staggered and stumbled. We waited for a couple of moments waiting for the bull to tip over.<br />
<br />
Except, he didn't. He started walking and stumbling away.<br />
<br />
"Give him another." I called out- watching intently through the binoculars.<br />
<br />
Gary fired again. Miss. And again....miss. With each successive shot the bull put more distance on the range and got more intent on fleeing.<br />
<br />
"Shoot him now!" Urged Gary. His voice was intent now that the bull was obviously wounded and his rifle was empty. I peered through the scope on the .270... the bull was strongly quartering away and I simply aimed for the middle and fired. Boom! No reaction. I fired again with no effect. The .270 is zeroed for 250 yards the fact I was undershooting him made me think this bull was a distressing distance away. I held the horizontal wire on the bull's back line and as carefully as I could manage, squeezed a round off. Boom! With a significant delay I heard the <i>kugelschlag, </i>the sound of the bullet striking game come back. It was a sharp crack rather than a hollow <i>whomp</i> which indicated I had struck bone. The bull collapsed with a shattered rear leg. I fired my last round out of humanity trying to end his life as quickly as possible. It broke my heart when I saw a clump of dirt fly up in front of the caribou.<br />
<br />
My remaining ammunition was located in the boat, along with my rangefinder. It was about a 5 minute hike back down and then a 10 minute climb back up. As I got ready to tear off, Gary found 2 rounds in his day pack. Rather than fire them from our perch, we made a plan. I would stay on the ridge and guide Gary through hand signals to the wounded bull which would allow Gary to dispatch it at close range. I would follow with the packs once he located the bull. As Gary picked his way across the tundra on a near dead run through the brush, it was apparent the bull was much farther than either of us though. A little map and Google Earth work would later reveal the initial shot was very near 450 yards- much farther than either of us would have knowingly attempted- and the final shot was on the order of 550 yards. After an agonizing period of time I saw Gary enter the small basin with the bull and heard the report of the rifle, followed by another.<br />
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It was finished.<br />
<br />
I followed a few minutes later after retrieving the packs from the raft. The bull was huge. The first hit had hit the bull a little too far back, in the liver. The wound would have been fatal but the caribou could have went a considerable distance. The second wound had smashed the upper femur of the onside rear leg. The bull was bleeding heavily and would have died fairly soon had Gary not shot it in the neck to end the suffering. We both felt horrible at how this happened. We both really try very hard to avoid this kind of thing. It was Gary's first experience with anything but a bang, flop, DRT shot. It was unfortunately not my first. We both hope it to be the last. I know that it does happen, occasionally animals just die hard. It doesn't mean I like it.<br />
<br />
We set about to field dress the animal, more somber than usual, without the chit chat or cheerful way we usually go about the work. It also became uncomfortable as the breeze died and the gnats came out in force. It also got far worse, once Gary realized he had forgotten his headnet which is the only way to seek refuge from them. We tried every trick in the book, we gutted the animal and then pulled the carcass several yards away- hoping to lure the midges to the pools of blood and entrails. It worked, but only a little. After a brutal 20 minutes, Gary resorted to putting pieces of rolled up toilet paper in his ears to keep the gnats out of his ear canals. I would occasionally hear him cursing under his breath but otherwise he was silently suffering the bugs and a heavy heart.<br />
<br />
After perhaps a half hour, I looked up and saw something moving across the tundra. A large bull was walking right toward us. I still had a tag in my pocket and a rifle full of ammo. I decided against it and went back to work butchering. I looked up again, the caribou's larger cousin had joined them and they were standing there, staring at us stupidly. The second bull was perhaps, the largest bull I've ever had opportunity to shoot. I went back to cutting, the wheels turning. We had to finish Gary's caribou and pack it to the raft, it would require two trips through the buggy tundra. Then we had to travel an hour up the lake to camp. If everything went right, we'd arrive right at dark. Right at dark provided I didn't shoot a second bull.<br />
<br />
I looked up again, the bull was only 15 feet away as I held the rifle in my hands. I only had to raise it and shoot. I could have killed it with a spear. I thought very hard about what to do next. I looked at Gary, he had a trickle of blood coming from his ear and his face was looking puffy from the bites. Midges were all over our bare arms mixing our blood with that of the caribou. I knew he'd never say a word or complain if I doomed us to another two hours out here in purgatory. He'd never complain about a ride across the lake in the dark guided by headlamp. Internally, I couldn't wrap my head around causing any more death today. Or additional suffering. I'd had enough.<br />
<br />
"I'm going to regret this tomorrow." I said as I snapped the safety on and dropped the rifle on my pack. Relief swept over Gary's face and my heart sank a little. I'd just had enough of it all for today.<br />
<br />
The caribou snorted loudly and walked away in a long wide circle and disappeared over the edge of the plateau.hodgemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07632228055641750343noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1275472535850559245.post-15585337137220817242015-10-17T15:08:00.002-07:002015-10-17T15:08:44.464-07:00The GAMO Fusion Pro... Pest Control Champion.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt1wGHwvq9yKm1pjS3zSVLc8sFNXfvWPl0BRbZm7nG0yoB23FJqW_eoAM57Wo4SE5o4MIFqCwYqXwpS7qsDPkfJI3_oT8L_TmU69nLVUaLqs9ZV4n5hJSRv-AMYReHHhGltakQKfEjK28/s1600/squirrel1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt1wGHwvq9yKm1pjS3zSVLc8sFNXfvWPl0BRbZm7nG0yoB23FJqW_eoAM57Wo4SE5o4MIFqCwYqXwpS7qsDPkfJI3_oT8L_TmU69nLVUaLqs9ZV4n5hJSRv-AMYReHHhGltakQKfEjK28/s320/squirrel1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
I have a long running war against The Red Menace aka Red Pine Squirrel.<br />
<br />
It's not that I hate them per se, but in the north country the lowly pine squirrel plays a huge part of the boreal ecosystem. Enough so that their numbers and reproductive rate can easily push them from "common" to "plague" status. I'll say outright that all the squirrels I've killed were completely legit- AK has no limit and no season on squirrels for either hunting or trapping, and unusual for here, no harvest requirement. I grew up hunting squirrels back East. Big tree squirrels that made great table fare and a long days hunting might bag three or four. Up here I can shoot three or four before I finish my first cup of coffee in my PJs off the front porch.<br />
<br />
Our last winter was a mild one, with a bumper crop of pine cones and while I enjoyed it immensely, I knew the shoe would drop.<br />
<br />
The squirrel explosion happened. While I'm sure some readers will take offense, I'll be happy to point out that red squirrels are a pest of the highest order. They'll wreck a bird feeder in about 3 seconds, they'll tunnel under your foundation, the get into the attic and pack off your insulation. I've even had them destroy the wiring harness of a jeep. Most rural homeowners do what I do- shoot them. Some folks poison them but that has lots of unintended consequences so I discourage it at every opportunity. The goal isn't exactly eradication, but to at least thin the numbers enough locally that you're not overran.<br />
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My favorite piece of equipment for that has long been the lowly .22 Long Rifle firing the anemic CB Cap. Squirrels are neither a long range target, nor particularly hard to kill- in fact, the 29gr conical bullet lumbering along at 700fps is just about perfect. Low noise, less danger of shooting through the neighbors house- the CB makes short work of a red squirrel sitting on a branch 20' overhead barking his head off at you. You get an exit about 1 in 5 but the residual energy is pretty low and the bullet generally hits the tree behind.<br />
<br />
That is until the latest ammunition paranoia swept the country. Locally available supplies become nonexistent and have been for several years now. A local scalper was asking $100 for a 100 round box. A price at which I hope sees him holding on to them for decades to come. Once the last squirrel fell to my last CB round, I knew something had to give.<br />
<br />
Enter- my faithful and observant spouse. For Father's Day she surprised me with a pretty thoughtful gift. A GAMO .22 caliber air rifle, complete with a scope and a noise suppressor. Note, that suppressors for firearms are highly regulated in the U.S.- not on an airgun however. Accuracy was surprisingly good- good enough for backyard pest control for sure. The amount of noise generated makes even the whisper quiet CB seem loud. The noise generated sounds like anything but a rifle shot. It will fire a .22cal pellet that weighs 14g at about 900 fps. While I wouldn't rate it nearly as effective as the .22LR round for small game, it is certainly the equal of the CB round and more than sufficient for back yard pest control.<br />
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After shooting a couple dozen squirrels I noticed a tendency to undershoot them with the scope. The pellets looping trajectory combined with the considerable distance between the bore and centerline of the scope made undershooting at close range pretty easy as well as overshooting at medium distances. For hunting at variable ranges the scope was just a handicap. I can hit squirrels with open sights a lot farther than I'd shoot one with an air gun.<br />
<br />
I simple scraped the scope off and called it good.<br />
<br />
To date, several dozen of the plentiful pests have fallen to the air rifle and I've really come to appreciate it. In all fairness, it has sparked something of an interest in air guns and I'm already looking at one of the pre-charged guns....hodgemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07632228055641750343noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1275472535850559245.post-28958295173169736942015-10-11T12:40:00.000-07:002015-10-11T14:00:57.411-07:00Early Season, Opportunity and Desire- Pt. 1The early hunting season in Alaska starts in the first week of August in my area. The weather is generally warm and dry with long days and short nights. The moose opener was a bit of frustration, we saw plenty of bulls but none in the limited hunting area we had. When the second week opened, we moved into caribou country. My family and I pitched a camp late on a Thursday night and my partner, Gary, would be down after work on Friday evening.<br />
<br />
I awoke pretty early at dawn. It must be said that dawn in early August is on the order of 5:00AM and while the family slept soundly, I snuck out to the edge of camp with my spotting scope, binoculars and a big mug of coffee. I've habitually been an early riser in a household of late sleepers and I've come to love those early mornings drinking coffee in the stillness of a sleeping house. In the field however, that first hour of the day is magic hour. I saw several cow moose milling about and even more caribou feeding on the ridge tops a couple miles to the north. There was no need to go after them, I was at peace just sitting here with the world waking up around me.<br />
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After a period of perhaps 45 minutes or so and getting near the bottom of my coffee, a lone caribou- a small cow- appeared out of the brush at something on the order of 500 yards away. She was making pretty good time and would traverse to within a hundred yards or so of camp as she worked her meandering way down the drainage. I had plenty of unhurried time to study her. She was fairly small and I debated shooting or not, but then again, small cows tend to be some of the best eating caribou out there. I decided that having fresh meat in camp would be a great way to welcome Gary to the start of the weekend and my friend Brian was supposed to be in the area that evening as well. Nothing like starting off a weekend of hunting with fresh tenderloin.<br />
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I chambered a round.<br />
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By this time the caribou was in some head high brush about 150 yards from camp. I could approach closer without being spotted and I eased my way off the hilltop and planned to intercept the caribou as it popped out of the brush in a marshy bottom. Several agonizing minutes later I was in the sitting position, looped up and ready as the caribou went perfectly broadside as she exited the brush. I was moving in slow motion when the caribou was already full steam. She spotted me sitting there and leaped four or five times in alarm- that four legged spring much like an antelope or gazelle and was apparently going to flee the country.<br />
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I did the only thing that occurred to me at the moment- I whistled. In some part of the quadruped brain there is this unusual instinct that deer, caribou and moose all seem to exhibit. When startled they tend to run a short distance and then stop fully broadside to look at what spooked them for perhaps a second or two. At my low whistle, the cow stopped and looked. Perfectly still and perfectly broadside at a mere forty yards. I settled the crosshairs on the neck- the only deliberate neck shot I've taken in years and years- and pressed the trigger.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikG8cVLVVXMJpIoqXZeBILtAty8O-s7y-_BlWLVgnMC1LXureP0vOFp9kUBKYJ3zVJ_gfkLKggQs6QcbrtVVBw2nqD5T1oCaIsSUx6RXVMrxc35yEjE47in4MPxaM-R6NF7x1g4d9lRms/s1600/cow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikG8cVLVVXMJpIoqXZeBILtAty8O-s7y-_BlWLVgnMC1LXureP0vOFp9kUBKYJ3zVJ_gfkLKggQs6QcbrtVVBw2nqD5T1oCaIsSUx6RXVMrxc35yEjE47in4MPxaM-R6NF7x1g4d9lRms/s320/cow.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
The results were as instantaneous as one would expect. The rifle cracked and the caribou fell stone dead in a pile, perhaps as clean a kill as one could hope for. I approached the animal and saw that the bullet had done its job. The .300 on a body shot would have wrecked the carcass at this range and I didn't want to waste a scrap of it. The shot had hit high in the neck and I would loose a little burger, but all the other eating parts were pristine. I walked back to camp and roused the family. neither had heard the shot and were quite surprised when I told them we had a caribou to butcher. When made quick work of it and finished just as the heat of the day caused the bugs to hatch.<br />
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It was the start of a great weekend.<br />
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<br />hodgemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07632228055641750343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1275472535850559245.post-26127386122401366072015-10-05T22:58:00.001-07:002015-10-05T23:15:52.794-07:00Fall....Well friends, it is fall here in the Great Land. We've just wrapped up the early hunting season and many folks are eagerly awaiting the winter hunts that open in a few weeks.<br />
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I've had a splendid season to date, spending 29 days hunting in the two month season. My companions and I enjoyed great weather (well, as good as it gets here anyway), injury free hunting and stellar success. A great year all around.<br />
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One thing I haven't done....is post here about it much. That'll change some in the coming weeks as there are lots of exciting things to report and some truly wonderful experiences to share.<br />
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Stay tuned!<br />
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These photos were taken from the same location... a mere 48 hours apart.hodgemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07632228055641750343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1275472535850559245.post-85056541267345533332015-08-30T19:11:00.003-07:002015-08-30T19:11:48.587-07:00Havalon Knives.... Just a good idea.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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A couple of years ago, my mother in law gave me a Havalon Piranta with a box of replacement blades as a Christmas gift. I was skeptical at first, the little knife was wickedly sharp and the small blade was thin and brittle. I wondered how it would hold up to field duty. I did a short review here last year, but that was after a couple of caribou.<br />
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I can now report that I've used the Piranta and its larger sibling, the Barracuta, on over a dozen big game animals and the report is just splendid. I've cut up critters with a lot of knives over the years but these are the best ideal going.<br />
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For those new to the party, the Piranta is a small knife designed to hold a #60 autopsy scalpel blade. The Havels company has been in the scalpel business for over three decades and extending their medical business into the taxidermy supply and hunting market was simply a good idea.<br />
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A few salient points to remember-<br />
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<b>1) These are sharper than believable, BE CAREFUL.</b><br />
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<b>2) They are not knives, do not twist or bend the blade or they will break. </b><br />
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<b>3) If you're using a lot of force, stop and change the blade or change your technique because you're getting ready to hurt yourself.</b><br />
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I've also been surprised at how much I've come to utilize the Havalon. In fact, the last four caribou I've broken down I've used nothing but the Piranta and the Barracuta with the bone saw blade. I've seen a lot of guys packing big fixed blade knives but I honestly can't see needing more than the 2.75" blade. I also received the Barracuta last year with the 4.375" blade and I must admit that I use it more when butchering at home than in the field. The bone saw blade only fits the larger arbor of the Barracuta and that is about the extent of it's field use for me.<br />
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As a disclaimer, I must inform the reader that I'm not sponsored or supported by Havalon in any way. I received both of mine as a gift from family members and buy replacement blades through normal retail channels. They are simply a good product that I'm passing on to you.hodgemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07632228055641750343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1275472535850559245.post-10534225210400215382015-08-04T21:39:00.000-07:002015-08-04T21:39:09.515-07:00Saying Cheese....<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">"Of course I smile in my trophy photos. In a world where too many people go hungry every day, how can I not smile?"- Hodgeman</span>hodgemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07632228055641750343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1275472535850559245.post-71762542900202873252015-07-20T23:11:00.001-07:002015-07-24T23:58:20.467-07:00Use Enough GunLooking through my analytics, I see that a piece I wrote some time ago about selecting the perfect Alaska rifle is hands down the most popular piece I've written here. It has consistently generated more page views, and not unusually, more email than any post to date. You can view the original <a href="http://hodgemansoutdoors.blogspot.com/2012/08/selecting-perfect-alaskan-rifleor-low.html" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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In that piece I only mention 4 cartridges- the .270, the .30-06, the .300 and .338 Winchester Magnum. A guy could select one of those and be a happy hunter for the rest of his days.<br />
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Since then, I've received several pieces of correspondence regarding other cartridge choices. I tend to view such discussions as a lot of fun (who doesn't like to discuss guns and cartridges?) but as much fun as they are...they are largely pointless.<br />
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What do I mean? I'll explain. Most cartridges between .270 and the .338WM will perform so similarly in the hands of the average hunter...there's basically no difference in the field at all. Comparing the .270 Winchester to the .280 Remington to the .30-06 or the .300 Winchester to the .300 Weatherby or .300WSM are all just drawing distinctions only discernible on a ballistic chart.<br />
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Critters rarely read ballistic charts.<br />
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There is one class of cartridges though that I'm getting a lot of correspondence about though that I have to draw the line on. The cartridges all have one thing in common- small bores, average velocity and very long for caliber bullets and all are pretty much marketed for long range shooting. Typical numbers are the .260 Remington, the 6.5 Creedmoor and the 6.5x284 Norma.<br />
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For long range shooting, they are the cat's jammies and for deer hunting they do just fine when loaded with hunting bullets. Many of the target and match bullets loaded in these cartridges are completely unsuitable for hunting big game though, so choose wisely. The 6.5x284 is often compared to the trajectory of the .300 Winchester Magnum and it's true. In terms of energy and effect on game the 6.5 just isn't close. Not in recoil either. In long range target shooting, high recoil will ruin scores. Almost all the top competitors have moved from the big magnums to the .25s and the .264s.<br />
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But big game hunting isn't long range target shooting. The typical hunter won't fire more than a couple of boxes of cartridges a year. A fraction of what a competitor will fire in a single match. A hunter looking to shoot a moose or caribou will do better with something harder hitting since the accumulated effect of recoil never takes hold. As compelling as the 6.5s are for long range shooting...Alaska hunters are better armed with something heavier.<br />
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Use Enough Gun.hodgemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07632228055641750343noreply@blogger.com3