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I booked a 3 day cow elk hunt with Black Mountain Outfitters Inc., https://www.bmohunts.com They have around 500,000 leased acres to hunt on. There were about 25 hunters in camp for the weekend with the majority doing cow hunts. They had a combination of bunk houses and campers to put all the hunters up in. It is a scheduled 3 day hunt. We really lucked out on the weather. Lows were in the mid teens to highs in the low 40's. Great hunting weather. The previous weekend the lows were around zero with several inches of snow. The first couple of pics are of the property, bunk houses and lodge area where we would meet and eat. Saturday morning was the first day of the hunt. We left the lodge about 5:15 and made it to where we were going to hunt just before sunrise, about 6:40. The guide left me at the truck and he hiked up on a knob to glass some flats. As soon as started glassing he waved at me to hurry and get up there. He spotted a bull and about 10 cows about 1.5 miles away. He said they will feed in this direction and lets get a move on and try to cut them off. The guide is young and in shape. I am just the opposite. We took off at a fast pace always trying to keep a line of scrub bushes between us and where the elk were. It about killed me trying to keep up with him. He would stop every so often and let me catch up. We finally get as far as we can with the cover. We had covered a little over a mile. I was sucking air, my lungs were burning, my knees were burning, snot was running my face but it was all that good kind of hurt. The video says the first shot was about 700 yards. We doubled checked it and the last bush we could shoot from was 600 yards. I tried to get my breathing under control but rushed my first shot and it was low. My second shot was also a little low. I hit her right where the legs meet the shoulder. I was a couple of inches low and forward of where I wanted to hit. The shot broke both of her front legs. I was sick. I hate making bad shots. She was not going anywhere so I was able to get closer and put a finishing shot through her neck. We got her gutted and then the real work began. We were supposed to have a third guy with us but he decided to go with another group. So the guide and I had to get this 400lb elk into the back of his truck by ourselves. As you can see from the pic I got a little bloody. I was exhausted after loading the elk. Being exhausted never felt so good though. Since I knew I was probably going to be bringing meat back I drove to the lodge. It is in Pie Town, NM which is a 20 hour drive. I left Thursday about 6 pm and drove straight through. I got there Friday afternoon. Met the other hunters and guides then we all had dinner. Went to bed and got up at 4 am Saturday morning. We had breakfast and then headed out to hunt. I killed the elk by about 7:30. We got back to lodge and got the elk skinned and quartered and put in cooler. I took a shower, packed my things, grabbed some lunch and was back on the road by 1:30. Got home this morning about 10. TL:DR - Drove 42 hours round trip for a 2 hour hunt and loved every minute of it.

How many of you remember the TV series “The Virginian”? The Virginian was played by James Drury. Our first-born daughter likes the reruns of the old western. They had a Cowboy Way Festival in Ardmore Oklahoma in 2017. We took our RV and drove out here and met James among other old western stars of yesteryear. Our grandson Cody went with us. Our daughter even got him a black western hat, red shirt, and outfit like the Virginian wore in the TV series. They have a Virginian Posse fan club. Prior to our getting there She posted Cody’s picture on the posse page and several made comments about Cody. As it turned out many were looking for Cody after we arrived. When we arrived and on Thursday night our daughter took Cody to a restaurant, in Ardmore, to eat. We stayed behind and set up our campsite and decided to attend the Friday thru Sunday festivities. After they arrived at the Restaurant they were seated and someone yelled out, “Is that Cody”? To their surprise it was James Drury. He was 84 at that time. He recognized Cody from the picture our daughter posted on the posse web site. James got up, came to their table, and shook Cody’s hand and welcomed them to the festival. Long story short, they had a Bosman’s dinner at the end of the festival on Sunday night. He told the director he wanted Cody to sit at the Bosman’s table and eat dinner with him. James Drury passed away in May of this year. Last week, a kind Lady wrote, on the Posse Web page, of her memory of that 2017 dinner as she sit beside Cody at the Bosman’s table that night. Here is her memory. Flashback to 2017, sitting across from Mr. Drury at the dinner table in Ardmore, OK I asked Mr D; What keeps you going, other than your beautiful morning and evening star(his Wife)? He looked at the entire table, and said; Each and everyone of you, then he looked at Cowboy Cody, who was sitting next to me with his family, and said, Especially you! I remember the smile on his face when he said that. It was priceless. He really, really enjoyed IMO being with all of us, and “most of all Cowboy Cody” that night. One of my most wonderful memories of Our Ramrod…. This spring after Cody learned of Mr Drury’s passing, he cried for days. Still does some times. He called me and told me “My Friend James Drury died Pop Pop, and every time Cody sees a rainbow in the sky, he says My Friend James Drury is happy. Cody is 28 now and has Downs Syndrome. Takes a Special Man to befriend someone who is challenged. Just like when King David(of the Bible) showed kindness to Mephibosheth (2nd Samuel 9). Read it, and your go and do the same.

https://imprimis.hillsdale.edu/sensible-compassionate-anti-covid-strategy/ I get a copy of Imprimis every month, and almost always the articles are thought-provoking. No less this one, with an interesting take on a Covid strategy. I think it's worth the five or six minutes it takes to read.

I honestly can't come up with the words. I am heartbroken. I am angry. I am not ashamed to tell you that I'm sitting here with tears in my eyes. Y'all.... Mikey literally spent some of his last hours reaching out on TGO for a connection to the outside world. You all were his community. You were his lifeline beyond the four walls of his hospital room. Please don't ever forget that. Don't misinterpret TGO to be just another gun forum. This place is literally home to many of us. Damn it. I just can't.

Finally wrangled up my wife a Model 70 with probably the finest trigger I have seen to match my model 70. 1953 M70 in 257 Roberts in a standard grade with a Weaver K4 atop it. Goes very well with my 1950 M70 in 30-06 dressed in SuperGrade with a Leupold Vari-X III 3.5-10 I (I mean my wife) has always wanted a 257 Roberts and was preparing to start rebuilding a 98 Mauser chambered in it when this jewel popped up.

You'd be amazed at how many people screw that up! They buy, make a little and get itchy, so they sell, then watch it go up, buy again, rinse and repeat several times, and then really load up the truck at the top and get on the heavy equipment non-stop down elevator. I've seen hundreds of people do that in my 40 years on Wall Street. Those folks are great --- after all, the rest of us do need liquidity!

Hipower, it is just a story about an somewhat famous person humbling himself, and extending friendship to one who is less fortunate. It is what God wants all mankind to do. Cody and our first born actually went back and seen Mr Drury in 2018. He remembered Cody and asked him to sit in his booth with him as he signed autographs and other things. Cody considered him to be his friend. They were going back in May of this year, but James passed away in April at 84. I posted this story here to encourage others to do the same. If you see someone less fortunate, reach out to them. Be a caring human being.

You might be crimping too hard which can expand the shoulder. The .30-30 is notorious for this. Remove the depriming pin and run a loaded round through the sizing die again. Then see if it chambers.

Since your resized but unloaded brass chambers properly, and since you've seated bullets much deeper than spec, that leaves me to believe that the bullets are expanding the necks of your brass. When your reloaded ammo won't chamber, are there land marks on the bullet? I'm betting not with deeply-seated bullets. If not, then it's unlikely that the bullets are running deep into the lands. You might carefully measure the neck diameter of a few factory loads that chamber properly, then measure the neck diameter of a few of your reloads that do not. If there's a difference, then either your bullets are too large or perhaps your bullet seating die isn't crimping properly. Have you tried more than one brand of bullet? (I've never had a problem with factory bullets, but I suppose it's possible.) One possible solution is the Lee factory crimp die. They're not expensive, but they seem to do a really good job of making sure a reloaded round is concentric and "unbulged" for lack of a better term. Good luck!

Nobody forced those kids to take out those loans. The problem is that many of them wasted the money on worthless degrees that won't earn them a living. Think liberal arts. They just wanted to be in college to party and have fun not to actually work hard, study and learn. Now they're buried in debt and just want to whine about it. My oldest got a 2 year Associates Degree from State Tech in computer science. He now makes a good living at it. Most of his education costs came from grants. Yep, free money you don't have to pay back. You just gotta be smart enough to know where to apply for them.

I had never met Mike either, but always enjoyed his comments on here. Like someone said we are all getting older and we could be the next to go to our eternal resting place. Prayers lifted for his family and the TGO family that will miss him.

This is my favorite video of Mikey from a few years ago at the Musician’s Hall of Fame induction. You might recognize a few of the folks onstage with him - ZZ Top, Peter Framptom, Randy Bachman... His solos are at about 2:40 and again at 5:20. The whole thing is worth just great.

I am reading a book by Dave Spaulding, "Handgun Combatives". In most books trainers talk about thugs can pick an easy target by the subtle ques one sends froth from the manner they carry themselves and they way they appear to others in public. Well! I just realized that body language reading also works the other way. Give you an example. When I was perused in my own front yard, while going to the mail box a few years back by 3 thugs driving down our road, one of them read my body language. Edited to add: Furtive Movements As I squared up to the first thugs continued advance toward me, after being told not too, the second pursuer read my intent and stopped in his tracks. Loudly told the other, "it ain't worth getting shot over." Then the first guy stopped his advance. I perceived that they were coming at me in a very hurried pace. What he read was, when he reached that 28 to 30' line, (I am oLd and slow)I had set in my mind that I was going to react, I dropped the mail, I slumped, crouching forward, run my hand quickly in my pocket, set my feet, and dropped my head in a fighting stance, another follower, of the 3, read my intent that I was preparing to fight, then he/they quickly decided they wanted no part of me. He told the other guy to discontinue his aggression and he did. I just realized this happened after reading this book. That thug surely read my body language, and backed down, just as I had read theirs. Now I am not bragging, but was totally glad that the incident ended, with me just being cussed at, by them, and me not being beat to within a inch of my life on that day. They all slowly retreated to their truck, entered it, all the while cursing me. When I got the chance, I beat feted it to my front porch, and collapsed in the front porch swing with knees of jelly. Thanked God my morning was not painful or deadly. I had no doubt that was what they had intended to do to me. I read the aggressor's body language. Matter of fact, I am convinced they were the ones that almost beat one of my neighbors to a pulp later on that morning. He was doing the same thing as me, except he was 84 and legally blind, but had a little peripheral vision. His son told me he never really recovered after the beating and robbery. Poor guy died 3 weeks later. Since he didn't die shortly after the severe beating they said he died of old age. Makes the crime stats look better for the county. That body language reading goes both ways, guys. Trainers have been beating that into our heads, for sure, for years. I was a little naïve in thinking I could continue to go to my mail box, as I had previously done for 30 years, IN This Day-In-Time. Almost paid a big price for being naïve guys. I post this here so some of you young guys can learn from my experience. Many older guys here have traveled miles down this path. Dave said, "If you look like meat, they will most likely eat."

Congratulations Bill. Great pics and an awesome smile on your face. Thanks for sharing.

Congratulations. With all that blood, you could be in a horror movie. Lol.

Love this. That’s some great country out there. Congrats.

Thanks for posting the ARK ETF info. I checked them out. Impressive. I'll consider adding them to my long term portfolio.

You can open up a TDAmeritrade or Robinhood account with as little as $500....buy the ARK ETF's I mentioned for zero commission and run circles around Vanguard and almost all other ETF's. ARK has the brightest minds, quickest adjusting, and most reliable large gains. Also there "fees" are insignificant compared to some other ETF's and they do enough volume that you can drop them with one quick click. (Some ETF's have such low volume that getting out of them can take a lot more time then you would expect)

I have this mount for sale on the site.

I get why some folks go with their investment pros, it can all be daunting at first, and you think you need a pro to make good things happen. But just take a look at the returns from the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund. https://investor.vanguard.com/mutual-funds/profile/performance/vtsax/cumulative-returns This fund is basically a mirror of the whole US stock market...from large companies to small in proportion. The overall track record of the US stock market is very healthy, and even with our economic woes, it's still a great bet over time. Now, couple that with an expense ratio of 0.04%, which means you'll only pay $4 per $10,000 invested annually, then compare and contrast that against the returns and fees you get from having someone manage your account. This investment is a $3,000 minimum to start (or you can start with the ETF version for a little under $200 currently), and whatever you want to funnel into it as you go. It's available in both traditional or retirement brokerage accounts through Vanguard, or any 401k plans that offer it. As for the disclosure part...this is my 3rd largest personal investment fund after two US Fund Large Growth funds (one a closed Vanguard fund I'm using to save for a down payment when I buy a home someday, the other in my personal Roth IRA). I recommend it to anyone who wants to invest, but isn't very savvy about picking funds, should go into a 'set it and forget it' mode, and could really use the money paid to an advisor going into the fund and generating returns. If you're not comfortable with the risk of rising and falling in concert with the stock market at large, or are closing in on retirement, you can dilute that risk with some bond funds at a hit to growth. But yeah, this one fund is basically your entry to the entire market, while also being able to serve as the whole ride until retirement.

Nice buck, Quavodus! That rifle is a Model 70 Winchester featherweight chambered in 280 Remington. I’ve never had a Savage that wasn’t really accurate.

^^^^^ That was my first thought, neck expanding.

LOL. I've seen hat happen.

m16ty, it is easy to do when your middle-aged and fit, or younger, but when you get to my station in life(72) and have several health problems bad knees, back, heart, and neck, among others, it is hard to look any other way but, OLD. I really think that may be why these thugs felt they could succeed with me. They saw meat and made the decision to eat. They saw opportunity, me out of my house and 300' away, much younger than I , and Ability, 3 of them to one of me. I sensed, very clearly, I was in jeopardy. As Sam Colt said, God made men large and small, but his invention made them equal. Luckily, I had the equalizer in my pocket. I will say I agree with your assessment on how to carry oneself if at all possible. In my case one really must rely on a equalizer, if forced into defending oneself. I like to be the "Grey Man", in public, and in life.

LOL! Yes, I'm aware of the mechanics of the market. I was referencing a common observation at market tops: casual investors bragging about outsized returns in shorter timeframes, aka robinhood invextors and pot stocks up 10,000%. I believe the classic story is a stock broker receiving unsolicited stock tips from taxicab drivers and the shoe-shine boy. Re: options, I find they are a much safer/better way to short something (market or security), however you absolutely have to understand what you are buying/selling. You can structure a trade to minimize risk (purchase naked calls/puts), or be on the hook for 10's of thousands (selling calls/puts). I enjoy trading them, as you can have long, swing, or short time frames, and the leverage is addictive. They are complex derivatives however, and not suited for all types of trading.

I would recommend against collectables. The obvious problems are storage, insurance, and the ability to make the right buying decisions at the right price, but the bigger problem is illiquidity. With an ETF, you list click "sell" at market in your Schwab, TDAmeritrade, etc account and within an minute you get an alert that's it's done. Wait until the settlement date and you can withdraw the funds. So, sell on Monday and you can have cash available to trade stocks on Monday or withdraw and have the cash in hand realistically by Thursday/Friday. With a collectable car or vintage gun, the buyer's market is MUCH smaller. It might take months. Plus, there is a major problem for what your heirs would have to do if something happens to you. A friend's late husband collected vintage musical equipment... pedals, speakers, keyboards, etc. He died with a house full of this stuff and his widow had no idea of how to get rid of it. It has been over a year and she still has one entire side of the garage and one bedroom filled with stuff that's worth tens of thousands of dollars, but people want to know it actually works before buying it. It has been a MAJOR hassle that you wouldn't want to leave to your spouse or children. In fact, what survivors typically do is sell it at auction for pennies on the dollar. I'd recommend a portfolio of ETFs. Vanguard is good, but there are others I would recommend as well. That's what some of the professional asset managers use. I know because I held the CFP designation for 34 years before retiring.

I get more riding time in that is for sure.

I'm no gunsmith by any means. But I am a fairly good hobbyist. Pick a project and have at it. Learn as you go and be prepared to make mistakes. Sometimes costly mistakes. Good tools are a must and they ain't cheap. You can find most anything you need at Brownell's. You Tube does have some good videos, but as Xtriggerman said, some are total crap. So take 'em with a grain of salt. Above all, go slow and easy. Test fit often. Its easy to take metal off, but its awful hard to put it back if you take too much. I do mostly handgun work and that is generally S&W revolvers and 1911s. two books I highly recommend are Jerry Kuhnhausen's The Colt .45 Automatic and Smith & Wesson revolvers. He also has several other books on various firearms. With time and patience you can do some very good work with just simple hand tools. This is my DIY pride and joy. A custom S&W .45 Colt snubbie. I started with a bare nekkid frame and the barrel was originally a 6" .45 acp barrel. So I had to cut both ends. But bear in mind that when I built this I had access to a lathe at work and have since retired and can't use it anymore. You gotta learn to work with what ya got.

Wow, you certainly dont see a pre 64 in 257 every day! Very nice. I loved doing M70 triggers. I used to refit the seer contacts to 3.25 lbs in a zero creep crisp break for the hunter / shooters. John M Browning would have been proud of the simplistic design, yet reliable. Good Luck with it!

Suddenly I’m feeling very personally attacked here.

Good night sweet prince: And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!

It breaks my heart to read his messages here about being ill and scared and to now know he didn’t make it is truly saddening. I met Mike a few times in person and always enjoyed hearing his stories of the music industry. RIP my dear friend my prayers are with his family now

And this is just a few. Mike told me once that the (recording) session work he did put him in contact with the biggest names in the music world, in all types. Now if you knew Mike, you know this wasn't bragging; he didn't seem to like talking about who he knew or worked with just to name drop. Those were just people he worked with. Just any other day or job to him. Playing and making music. That's all Mike wanted, at least outside of his family. Everything he did was for his family. That always came thru in conversation. You just felt and could see the love he had in his life for them. He was a dedicated musician and family man. One who was blessed enough to make his passion his life's work. We should all be so lucky. I'm sure others here knew him better than I did, and are hurt just as deeply by his passing. But I must say that meeting Michael Douchette was a joy. I can say without any reservation that meeting Michael was one of the biggest and best parts of my time in our TGO family. He shone in whatever context you would meet him in. You simply could not help but like the man. He made that impossible. Goodbye my friend. May you have eternal peace and joy playing with that Heavenly Band that needed a great steel guitar player.

The supply of ammo and guns will eventually catch up. But pricing recovery will be dependent on the retailers. I’ve seen around 15-18% and still rising since January on guns at the online dealer I use mostly, with no price increase from the manufacturer. And they don’t have them, so the price may even be higher when they do. And of course ammo pricing is just crazy. I could make a butt load of money right now. But I refuse to be part of this. “Free Market” or “supply and demand” being legal doesn’t make it right. Now, having said that there are plenty of folks on this forum that are pricing stuff right.

I ran into Win M855 5.56 at Academy in Johnson City last night at $10 per 20 round box. Limit 3 boxes. Not far off from what pre-panic prices were since this is not the cheapest stuff. But I bet the 50 boxes were gone before they closed. My normal pick up there used to be Tula or their Monarch at $5 or $6 per box. Not as cheap as buying bulk, but sometimes easier to swing 5 boxes of that at a time especially after all the online places had to start collecting tax.

I get out of my depth here pretty quickly - but one of the antibodies Immunoglobulin M develops very quickly after infection - but is not long lasting - maybe lasting weeks in the system. A second antibody immunoglobulin G develops later and is somewhat more durable and longer lasting - lasting months or years in some cases. It is still unknown as to what protection these antibodies will offer against reinfection. Because of the above questions as well as the chances for both false positives and even false negative in some cases, it’s generally recognized that a current Emergency Use Authorized serological test is more of a curiosity than an actual diagnostic test.

If you haven't already started taking vitamin D3, you should start immediately and take a 20,000 IU on day 1 and 5,000 IU daily after that. Some people are advocating 50,000 IU on day 1. Good luck.

Right, but under the thoughts of some, the COVID patients are being used to pad the books with free money from Uncle Sugar.

You will most likely need a cantilever mount that allows you to keep the mount on the upper receiver while pushing the scope far enough forward for proper eye relief. I can't advise exactly what length though. Look at the offerings form Large, ADM, Bobro, and Midwest Industries. You will most likely not be able to use standard rings and properly mount the scope on an AR.

Nothing to brag about, but I haven't seen a good deer where I hunt this year. I bought a new dehydrator, and want to see if it works. My patience ran out around 7am this morning.

I've probably posted these before, but I had them out of the safe and snapped a picture. My father made each of my sons a deer rifle. They are Mexican Mauser actions with Timney triggers and David Miller 3 position safeties. They are both chambered for 257 Roberts. I hope they will appreciate them as much as I do.

Mmmm... vault room.

No reason at all not keep them in the same safe...but safes only get so big.

Price Inquiry Threads Update Recently, we’ve had a lot of “How Much is My Gun Worth†threads here in the Long Guns Forum.* While this isn’t against the rules per se, selling a firearm outside of the Trading Post is. *The majority of these are usually from Non-Benefactors, and the Admin/Mod’s suspicion is that members are trying to skirt the rule of requiring a member of TGO to be a Benefactor to post “For Sale/Trade†ads in the Classifieds Section; so when looking at certain posts in the Long Guns Forum where a member is asking for a price, sometimes this can turn into a “For Sale†ad (intentional or not…) * The truth is, if you are intelligent enough to create an account on TGO, you should know that all you have to do to get an accurate up-to-date price on any firearm, is SEARCH.* Google is very helpful (try their “Shopping†search, it will give you pricing information from several gun websites and I’ve found it fairly accurate).* Not enough? Try GunBroker.com, GunsAmerica.com, or AuctionArms.com; all these sites show what the going rate is for a particular firearm. If you think those auction sites are overpriced, then subtract $100.* The truth is, firearms pricing is all over the board these days.* * Going forward, all Price Inquiry threads will be monitored closely, and if they look suspicious, Infractions will be given and the thread will be deleted.* In legitimate Inquiry threads, once the OP’s (Original Poster) question has been answered, the thread will be locked to prevent misuse. * We appreciate your cooperation with this matter. Please don’t hesitate to PM me if you have any questions. * Thanks!