Handsome Rob

Dammit. Thanks Hozzie. I did think I may be pushing things, but nowhere near that hard! Could you possibly run me up a full spectrum of powders & velocities on QL? What exact info do you need to do that?

I think I've been bushwhacked into 'sneaky bastard' second place, at home. Damn.

I haven't actually seen the first post. Hang on. . . . . . . . . . . . . Yes. Sneak 'em into the house, don't clean it for a while & if she asks, tell her you've had it for months. That's how we have 5 dogs & 6 cats. I learnt from a master.

Yes.

Welp, it seems like 44.5-45gn of 4064 is the ticket in my Lightweight Hunter! I shot 4 shot groups with each load & 44.5 & 45gn gave me sub 1" groups at 2831min-2869max velocities. No trouble with extraction, primers looked good. I was expecting pressure signs right off the bat, but right up to 45.5 (still a mid range SST load, but compressed with the GMX) everything looked great! Top velocity at 45.5 was 2938 I've got a little room to play with seating depth (I underestimated on mag length: I CAN run right out to 3"!) & I reckon ½" isn't out of the range of possibilities, although as a pure 300yd & under elk gun, 1" is more than good enough.

You want a loading volunteer? I'm a range member & I'll do it for a free ticket! I don't even want to shoot, just lemme watch!! :D Srsly.

I fish the Elk most weeks throughout the year. Tim's Ford Dam & Farris Creek Bridge (both between Lynchburg & Winchester) are loaded down with stocked browns & rainbows. Mostly in the 6-10" range. If you want bigger fish, you really need to get away from easy access locations as these are horribly overfished. The Duck River near Cortland mill & at Normandy dam are also great year round locations, again, for stocked fish. I only fish tenkara or fly fish, so I can't comment on gear, other than ultralight is the way to go. I fish a 3wt floating line with 7x tippet (2.2lb) on a furled leader & usually some pattern of emerger (soft hackle) in a size 18 to 14 My Tenkara rig is a 13' Fountainhead 390 (7:3 action) with a 12' field mainline & 1.8lb fluorocarbon tippet, again fishing a soft hackle or Daiichi fly. Stocking on the Elk & Duck happen pretty much year round & if you just want to catch trout, it's very, very easy. If you're looking for a trophy, well, it can be done but it's work. Buy good waders & be prepared to hike a mile or two. The 'rooster tailers' generally stay where the access is easy & exercise isn't required ;) If you have a canoe, a float from Tim's to Farris Creek is the way to get into bigger average fish. It's about an 8 mile float, so plan for a full day & you'll need either a pick-up or bring a buddy.

I'll have to grab a sample & find out the average h2o volume, but I've got the cases sized at 2.125" (I think!)

I guess this is 50/50 reloading/hunting related, but does anyone have any real world experience with Hornady's GMX, specifically in .308? I'm struggling to find any load data. Hornady says to use the same data as the SST bullet, but GMXs are much longer & take up a LOT of case space. Even at SST middle range loads I'm getting a bit of powder crunching. I daren't even try max loads! I'm limited by magazine length (2.840"), so seating closer to the lands is not an option. I'm wondering whether I ought to try loading to the next SST size up (165gn data for 150gn bullets) I'm trying to load 150gn to achieve 28-2900fps from a 20" barrel, which looking at my old 168gn bullet data shouldn't be a problem, with Varget or 4064 however they're both fairly bulky powders & I'm concerned about pressure spikes.

There are a bunch of widely available, common powders that I think would work better for you than 2495. IMR4895, 4198, 4064, 3031, 4350, 8208 H4895, H4198, Win 748, CFE 223, XBR..... Varget isn't your only, or probably best, option.

Love him or hate him, there's no denying that Jimmy Fallon is a talented dude!

Keep yer head down! The river runs directly behind the range at Strategic Edge ;) Oh. If you find a 6.5mm, 140gn Berger VLD could I have it back please? :D

Oh I see! That looks to be the very thing, thank you! I like the fact that's it doesn't suit too tight to the body too. Plenty of room for a winter jacket to sit inside of it (open carry only in Wyoming for me) & easily accessible around my pack hip belt. I'll give then a call on Monday to see if they can make one for the 3.3 XDS (they list the 3.8" so....) Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

I hear that! I had one on my antelope gutpile last year. We watched him from the truck at about 400yds. All I could think was "that's about 10 seconds!" This year I'll really be in their back room. Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

Oh, my XDS is the .45 loaded with Buffalo Bore +p 255gn hard cast. After toting heavy-ass Ruger .44s around for the last few years I figured I needed to lighten things up a bit. I'll be honest, I've never dared touch off one of the 255s. I don't think the XDS is rated for +p. I'm betting my life (literally) that it'll hold up to 2 shots & from everyone I've spoken to, if a grizz decides I'm dinner, that'll be all I'll have time for anyway! In the areas I hunt, that's the only thing I'll ever need it for. Down in the willows, the chance of bumping a moose are fairly high & for that I carry the mag loaded with 230gn flat noise solids

Is there any chance you could post a photo of you (or, preferably, some chick in a bikini.....) wearing the Fury holster please? I've never actually owned any holster that was non-leather & I can't picture how all the bits fit together & where it would hang. Omega: thanks for your experience, I'll give a drop-leg a second look. It's the band's around my thigh that put me off the idea.

I still want to know how you can buy 'almost' 50 rounds of 20 gauge shells. I mean, it comes in boxes of 25 soooo.....

I'm looking for something that I don't believe exists! What I want, is a secure holster for a 3.3" XDS, that carries the pistol lower than my waist band. I guess I really want a western 'cowboy' style holster. I've considered a drop leg, but for my intended use, it would be too restrictive. This would be purely for hunting trips out West, where carrying a backpack & hiking long distances in steep terrain is the norm. I've considered a chest rig, but carrying a large pack, plus a bino harness makes this impractical. I've also thought about carrying a regular, pancake holster on my pack belt, but the webbing isn't strong enough to keep it tight & I do have to remove my pack leaving me away from my pistol. Does anyone know of anything that would fit my needs?

Last I saw was Remington. $12.99 for a box of 50. Mind you, that was in Wyoming last year. Bought 5 boxes. :)

Ruger model 77 in .243 The old style with the red 'rubber' buttpad. I have never been kicked so hard by a rifle. It was insanely painful to shoot, even compared to the .45-70s & .458 It felt like I was being whacked with the sharp edge of a spatula every trigger pull.

Simply because there is less vane to contact. In my opinion, those look like cheap vanes. The type usually found on no-name, pre-fletched arrows. If I were you, I toddle along to your nearest store & have them re-fletched with some Bohning, Blazer or Easton vanes. Or feathers. Feathers are just as good as, if not better than, vanes in every way (as long as they're dry) Once vanes get to the condition yours are in it's time to bin them. It's funny, but a little difference in vane quality makes a massive difference in the way they perform & how long they last. You won't see that amount of damage just by stacking arrows in your target. I've been shooting feathers for years & recently switched to 2" Blazers. Generally I can put 3 arrows touching & I've probably hit at least 300 shots out of each arrow, minimum. My vanes look like New.

What's your user name? Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

@robtattoo580. I'm on.

Nope, couldn't care less about them. They're actually the only critter I have almost less than no interest in hunting. Can't explain why, they just don't do a thing for me.

Are they the little .30 carbine bullets? I know that they can be pushed to around 3200fps, but I couldn't comment to their accuracy. Paco Kelly wrote about them as an ideal varmint round from a .30-30 loaded super hot, so I guess a mild .308 loading should be about right. I'm headed down to Florida on Monday, but if you don't mind waiting a couple of weeks, I'll get them done & mailed to ya.