Handsome Rob

Sorry chief! I didn't mean to preach to the choir! You may also wanna check out www.muzzleloadingforum.com

Gunbroker is your friend. Lots of caplock frontstuffers for sale there. I can highly recommend the Lyman GPR in .54 I find it shoulders & balances much nicer than any of the TC rifles. The .50 is nice, but a little muzzle-heavy. The .54 balances much nicer + it has a lot more whompability. Big medicine on anything smaller than a grizz You can buy real black powder from Bass Pro too. You'll need to ask at the gun desk for it (It's not allowed to be on display) It's much, much better in sidelocks than Pyrodex, 777 etc... Buy yourself a pound of FF & FFF, you'll find that your rifle will definately prefer one over the other. Get to the range & do plenty of load work too. Patch thickness & powder volume makes a hell of a difference in your accuracy (for example here's a couple of my targets, just to show what a difference a few grains can make......) If you buy new, you'll need to get at least 100 shots down the barrel before your accuracy really starts to pick up. They take a lot of breaking in. Don't worry about your load combo until then.

Anyone hunt deer with .243? What's your preferred factory load? I'm looking at 2 different bullet weights, one for varmints (55gn) one for deer (95 or 100gn) Would I be better doing this, or can I get away with a 'midde ground' bullet weight of around 75gn to do it all?

Not funny until he mixes the dressing & now I can barely see for laughing!!!

Tee hee hee.......

I took my first rifle deer with a little .357 Rossi last year. 100 yard shot with a hollowpoint. I couldn't tell you the bullet manufacturer or weight as it was from a batch of handloads I got with the rifle. I can tell you that it was a pretty light load, certainly not up to factory load pressures. The deer didn't take a single step. Pretty devastating round from a rile barrel!

I drove upto Big Timber via Livingston. The little guy on the right in the picture of the 3 of us, is the ranch manager/caretaker of the Brokaw ranch. I spent 4 days living in Tom Brokaw's guest house (Name drop, name drop ) Unfortunately, Tom & Meredith were in California at the time, mediating the Governatorial debate. I drove up through Jackson & into Yellowstone. I got to see Old Faithful do it's thing (something I've wanted to see since I was a little kid) & experienced the 'town Elk' in Mammoth (possibly THE coolest thing ever!) I came the longer way back, via Cody, to visit the Bridger museum & visit another good friend. It was a hell of a road trip (4000 miles + in 14 days) but worth ever mile & drop of diesel. I got to see & visit places I've been reading about in Western novels for 30+ years. I'll be back next fall to see a little more of Yellowstone & top up the freezer with more 'lope meat (BEST burgers EVER!!!)

.....Whompability & the .54 roundball Before I post this, I'll apologise due to the lack of pictoral evidence. I rarely carry a camera at the best of times & crawling around Wyoming in a ghillie suit, whilst carrying a 9lb .54 Lyman Great Plains Rifle + all the accoutrements is not condusive to lugging photography clobber around. Anyway, to the crux.... I just returned from 10 spectacular days in Wyoming & Montana. The reason for the trip wasn't really hunting, but I had a couple of Doe/Fawn Antelope tags in my pocket, just on the offchance. After visiting with some very good old friends & a few days of sightseeing I managed to slope off for a day's stalking. Man, hunting whitetail down here has really spoiled me Hunting the Western Praries at the foot of the Rockies is TOUGH! 12" tall sagebrush as the only cover, unpredictable winds, animals with good eyesight, I tell you, it ain't no walk in the park! I soon figured out that the only way to get within my comfortable range (50yds) of a group of antelope is in a ghillie suit, on my belly. It seems that I could walk upright to about 150yds of every group, as long as the wind was right, but inside of that they weren't hanging around to figure out what I wanted. I made 3 failed stalks on different groups before I figured that out. The fourth stalk went a lot better! I had seen a herd of 17 animals about 800yds from my hilltop & stalked upto 75yds. 17 sets of eyes were suddenly turned my way & I had nowhere left to go. I made a decision to take the last doe in the herd (the biggest) from my present, prone position. I've done plenty of shooting with my muzzleloader at 100yds+ & I know that I'm pretty much going to hit what I aim at, at that range. I'll admit I'm a LOT more comfortable at 50, but I figured that 75yds was no great shakes from a prone, rested position with little wind. I waited for a full broadside position & placed the foresight directly on the back of her shoulder, set the trigger & touched off.....click.....crap (must get a new nipple ) I recocked the hammer, re-set the trigger, whispered a hurried prayer & touched off the 90gn FFG charge. The .530 roundball flew to the exact spot I'd aimed for & dropped the doe on the spot! Joy of joys, oh happy day! My first game with my GPR. I got up to walk across the hill & claim my prize when I noticed a second 'lope, just over the brow of the low ridge my target had been standing on. She didn't look well, not well at all. I hurriedly re-loaded with thoughts of filling my second tag. I got the rifle mounted & ready to shoot when she toppled over. Figuring something was seriously wrong I decided to investigate & was utterly amazed to find her dead, right there with 2 broken front shoulders. Yep, you got it, I managed a twofer. The second animal was bedded directly behind the one I'd shot at, hidden out of my sight in the sagebrush. The roundball passed straight through the first, without hitting heavy bone & continued on straight through the second! Three things I learned from this; 1. Carry a freaking camera! 2. Be very, very aware of what's behind my target. 3. Respect the Roundball. Sabots & pointy bullets are for girls. If anyone's at all interested, I can take a photo of the inside of my new chest freezer...... There's over 100# of really nicely butchered meat in there (minus the roast that's in the smoker) Here's a few 'mood' pics.....

Well, thanks to Gregg, I've got myself fixed up with a really nice condition K6 Weaver (well, I will have once I get him a check mailed off)

Yes I am and no, unfortunately I haven't I sold all my stuff before I moved here & haven't got back to building yet :(

Well, it looks like I've not only managed to settle on a caiber, I've found the right rifle too! I've just been and dropped a few bucks on a nice condition, used Ruger M77 (Mk1, red butt-pad) in .243 Next thing I need to decide on is a scope. I've always used variable power scopes, but to be honest apart from on the range, I rarely alter the magnification. I don't have a huge amount of cash left over to go top of the range, I'm realistically looking for a scope in the sub-$150 price bracket & I'm thinking that a fixed power (6x) scope may allow me to get a little more for my money. I know I'm not going to get a Leupold, but I may be able to find a nice, used Redfield or a lower-end Nikon. Also, this being an older rifle, it has a very classy gloss blue finish & I'd like the scope to match (rather than being Matte Black) Does anyone here use & fixed power? Do you wish you'd bought a variable? Does anyone have any suggestions? I'm going half blind looking at Cheaper than Dirt/Midway/Midsouth etc... Oh, I'm open to offers if anyone has a suitable scope going spare

Thanks for the help & advice guys. After due consideration, I've decided to go with the .243 option. I can get lightweight bullets for varminting & heavyweights for deer & bigger stuff. I was never really comfortable with the idea of the .22 bore-size for deer, although I know it's possible. The .243 WIN seems like a much better alrounder, at the expense of a few more cents per bang.

Thanks y'all! The shot was about 50yds, but I wouldn't hesitate to take a 100 yarder at all. I read a lot of info online & (more importantly) spoke to a lot of folks about the li'l .22 WMR round. Everyone told me that it was fine out to about 125 yards with Remington 40gn Softpoints (NOT hollowpoints!) The little 30gn Hornady Balistic Tip gives you another 25-30 yards effective range, but it's a lot more wind sensitive. The one thing everyone's opinion had in common, when talking about these little rimmy rounds, is that shot placement is absolutely vital & to be prepared for a quick follow up shot, if needed. I'm under no illusion at all, a small centrefire round (.22 Hornet, .222, .22-250, .204, .223 etc...) would be preferable, but as long as you're prepared to ONLY take high percentage shots, the WMR will get the job done.

While I've been away in the Wyoming, The Wife's been hving no end of trouble with coyotes. The dadgum things came onto our front porch & made off with a female turkey on the first night. (prompting a very frantic, panicky phone call from The Wife & detailed instructions on how to load a Remigton 870 from me. Incedentally, have you ever tried to describe, without handsignals, loading a pumpy to someone who'snever, ever handled a firearm. Not easy. Not easy at all!) The second night they were back & made off with 2 guinnea fowl. (Prompting a second panicky call fom The Wife & a stern telling off for being 'too scared' to use the 870 from me) Anyhow, roll on a few days & I'm back to put paid to these thieving 5hits (after butchering 2 antelope Thank You Wyoming!) I called up a good friend of mine, who knows a lot more about his stuff than me & begged a lend of his Foxpro caller. Man, them things are a LOT nicer than squeeking against the back of your hand! I set up in our back field at 7:15 am, just as the sun was starting to really get up. Me in my old faithfull Ghillie suit, the caller set out at about 75yds & facing in the direction I thought seemed most likely. I hit the button on the Coyote Locator call & let it cycle through a couple of sequences.....nada. Okay then, let's see what sounds inviting....Chicken In Distress oughtta work. I ran the call for about 10 minutes, scanning the open cow pasture behind my property & sure enough, I see the cows start out towards me in a big hurry. Just behind them I catch a glimpse of a very dark, very large 'yote coming straight in to the call. Here we go..... He locks up at about 125 yds, in the cow field. Dammit, just a little closer. I hit the call again & he starts back towards me, ducks under the fence & stands facing me at dead on 70 yards. DAMN! there's 12 cows standing all around behind him, too risky for a shot. 5 seconds later & he's hauling tail back to the woods with out stopping to give me another chance. Oh well, that's hunting. I figured I'd move a little & give it another try, not really expecting a second chance. We have a little pond in the same field, about 200yds from where I initially set, the field sloping off behind it into the woods. It's only a small area, maybe 100yds long, 50 wide with trees on 3 sides & a bushy berm on the 4th, backing onto the pond. I threw the call out right into the middle of the glade & set myself up at the bottom of the berm, concealed by the low (& spiky) bushes. Once more, the Distressed Chicken is given it's chance to perform......20 seconds of skwarking, clucking & screaming later & there's a small coyote staring straight at the call. Stone me that was fast! I hurriedly shoulder the little Marlin, throw a mil-dot on the back of her shoulder & squeeze off a round.......Where'd she go? What'd I do wrong? How the H-E double-hockey-sticks did I miss? Oh, hang on, I didn't! She dropped right there, deader than virginity. The little 30gn Hornady .22 MAG round worked exactly as advertised, leaving a teeny, tiny entrance hole & an exit wound I could poke 2 fingers into I dragged her back to the house for a few pics & skinned her out for tanning. She has a beautiful red/grey coat, very full & soft & it should look great slung over the back of my chair! Now, if I can just get her boyfriend to come in.......

Okay, I'm in the market for a bolt action, centerfire .22 I'm wanting it for target shooting/fun at the range, varmint hunting (out to 300yds) & possibly even deer hunting, The options I'm considering are .22-250, .222, .223 or possibly a .204 Ruger (Not for deer) I'm leaning heavily towards either a Savage or Remington 700. I know that there's no 'perfect, do it all rifle' but I'm wanting the nearest thing I can get. I already have a .22 WMR, so the big rimmy can be discounted. I don't want a round that's going to vaporise a coyote either (which is my main concern with the .223 Anyone got any experiences?) I have various rifles of different calibers which are great for either deer & target, but not varmint; varmint & target but not deer; or target but not deer or varmint. I'd like to whittle my safe down a little & standardise my ammo buying, if possible too. Which would you choose & why?

I'll be chasing antelope all around Wyoming, as long as m' truck gets me there!

Awesome man! Congratulations on your first, ain't it a great feeling!

Nice to be able to hunt again! I missed out on the morning hunt, because I was busy packing for the afternoon! The hunt club I'm a member of, has our land about 2¾ hours drive from my house. So, I packed for an overnighter. I arrived at the site at 2pm, set up my campsite & got into my hunting gear. I threw my stand on my back, a book & a few bottles of water in my pocket, grabbed my beautiful Morrison Cheyenne & headed out for the trees. I had a pretty good idea of where I needed to be after having an afternoon in a nearby tree last year & seeing good sign. I had a small hill to my right, a gravel road 20 yards to my left & beyond that a small backwater. The wind was coming nicely down the hill & hooking around to blow in my face (according to the Thermacell smoke) After an hour or so, I began to figure out that I was probably in the stand a bit early (I live in the Central timezone, the club is Eastern ) so I dug into the Den of the Old Bowhunter for some inspiration from Chester Stevenson. . . . Time passes. . . . More time passes. . . . Sitting there in a slight downpour I started to hear movement up the hill. Sqirrels. Finally the rain gave it up & the woods began to spring to life. I catch sight of movement. A flash, nothing more. I started to twist & gyrate, trying to see through the trees in the failing light. I catch a glimpse of a leg & my attention focuses instantly on that spot. I'm so intent on seeing the rest of the deer in that tiny gap, 40 yards away, that I completely fail to see the doe walking calmly towards me. Finally my brain kicks in & I see the deer. I'm already on full alert now, bow in hand, vibrating like I'm on a caffeine high. Ever so slowly I bring my right hand to the string & locate the nock & begin to rotate towards my quarry. She stops. Facing me. Drops her head & starts to pick up the few White Oak acorns she can find. She turns away & I put tension to the 63# carbon & foam, diamond back-backed limbs. A step to her left. Feeding. Another step left & she's quartering away by a couple of degrees, my bow is up, heavily canted to avoid the bar around my climber, the arrow is suddenly not there & the deer is running away. Did I miss? I know I bent at the waist. I think I hit my anchor. I don't think I 'peeked' Can I see my arrow in the dirt? No. Hmm. Where'd it go then? I must've hit it. I hit it. I. . Hit. . That. . Deer. I HIT THE DEER!! IHITTHEDEERIHITTHEDEERIHITTHEDEEEEER!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ok, now the shakes kick in, big time. I struggle to remember how to sit down & try & compose myself. I try & remember where she was when I shot & where she ran to. OK, think I've got it now. Slowly, slowly down the tree I go (Terrified & shaking ever step of the way) to take up the trail. I can't see any blood in this light & my headlight is in the truck, dammit. No problem, I'll go to the last place I saw her & flag the spot before I go get it. I pace off 12 yards from my tree to where she stood. 12 yards, cool! 22 more yards to where I remember seeing her run. Oooh, there's my arrow. It's got all red on the end & the bleeder's missing from the big Magnus four blade head. Cool! Ok, she went thattaway, over a small rise. Go on Rob, take a peek. There she lay. At rest, at the base of a small tree & very, very dead. A quick peek at the wound tells me that I passed high through her right lung, through the middle of her left & smashed holy hell out of her left shoulder, leaving a small exit wound & lots of splintered bone. Now the frantic texting & phone calls to everyone I've ever met or heard of to let 'em all know that I've just got my first deer with a bow! Quick Robbie, grab the camera......****, ****, ****ing ****, it's at home, 2¾ hours away. So, I don't have any 'Before' photos & no 'hero' shots. But I do have these....... Hope this isn't too rambling for ya!

My name is Rob, I have a lot of tattoos & piercings. I've been Robtattoo on every forum I've been a member of for 10 years. Pretty mundane really!

Can't do the morning, but I've got a nice tree picked out to climb on the afternoon & a even better option for sunday morning

On a small side note, I feel bad for Rob Bayley, the original maker of Bear Grylls' knives It's a bad day when a fine custom builder like Rob (I know the guy personally) gets screwed over by a big company like Gerber, who can afford to pay a huge sum to use the Bear Grylls brand and then manufacture a far inferior product. Shame. The original was a far nicer (If way more spendy...) knife. Here's a link to Rob's site..... Welcome to Bayleyknife - The home of practical, handmade knives

Go old. Patched round ball is the way forward! To be honest, most modern inlines are on-par with centrefires as far as power & range go (upto a point) & you'll not really notice any difference between a .50 inline & the likes of a .30-30 upto 100yds If you fee like a challenge more on par with bowhunting, try a patched roundball out of a sidelock. For the money (if this is the way you feel you'd like to go) a Lyman Great Plains Rifle is about the best bang-for-the-buck rifle out there. In either .50 or .54 (I have one of each barrel) you can accurately take deer out to 100-125yds, however, much like tuning your bow to the arrow, every single sidelock is different. The fun is in finding out exactly what powder charge/ball diameter/patch thickness combination works best for your gun. Believe it or not, you don't need 150gn of Pyrodex to kill a deer (as the TV shows would have you believe) Anywhere upwards from 50gn will get it done cleanly & well. The key to good frontstuffer hunting is the same as bowhunting, that is; Getting in close & being pinpoint accurate with your shot. A roundball (contrary to belief) can be outstandingly precise. Here's one of my work-up targets....... That's a 1-¼" 5 shot group out of a barrel that I was in the process of shooting in (If memory serves they were shots 70-75) & I'm a long, long way from being a great shot! Now the barrel has had 200+ shots the group has shrunk to one ragged hole with the same load combo. If you ever fancy trying out my GPR in both .50 & .54 fell free to PM me & we can go shoot somewhere! Be warned though, the black stuff's addicting!

Dude. Two words......... GUN RACK! If that doesn't tear her up, a Mossy Oak seat cover & a Ducks Unlimited window decal should fix it.

I just got an EMail from Bass Pro Head Office, theNashville Store re-opens it's doors at 9am tomorrow! Just in time for hunting season!

Here you go..... Track of the Wolf - Balls & shot for muzzle loading guns Just out of interest, what's the musket?