Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Pond Boss Hunting and Trapping Fall/Winter 2009/2010

I keep hoping Ohio will add the latter. I'd love to use my 77/44.

Theo:

What's the rules regarding pistols? The same guy that built my last rifle builds some pretty accurate pistols. They've taken antelope with them out around 1k.

I am going to have to add a few coins to trading in the 30/30. MSRP is 777.00, then a decent scope.

Ruger 77/44


I should have purchased one when they were in the 400.00 range. Of the two gun dealers I use, both closed. One after he was robbed (he was retired) and the other just closed up shop. A new shop just opened up down the road, I'll stop in and check it out. A good gun guy is just as important as a good pond guy.

Any good recommendations on a scope? , also a scope for my Super Redhawk.

Leupold FXII 4x28. It's fixed....but how close to that cannon do you want to stick your eyeball anyway?

Look at the Lovell scope mount, much more compact and elegant than the factory Ruger rings.

JKB:

General rule of thumb is spend as much or more on glass than the gun cost......

I don't know how old you are, but the older you are, the bigger objective you'll need during low light conditions, providing you are keeping the tube size and magnification the same. Unfortunately, a bigger obj. means that the scope has to be mounted higher from bore centerline, and getting a good cheekweld is harder unless you have a high cheekpiece on the rifle. That Ruger doesn't have one.

Personally, I can do with a higher magnification than a lot of people. I'd throw a 3x9-40 on it, Leupold VX-3 or so. There's nothing wrong with the VX-III either. Depending on the distance of your shots, you could go even less magnification, or even a red-dot type sight if in thick stuff and need to get a really quick shot off. I have a 3.5x10-50 illuminated VX-III Mil-Dot scope on one of my slug guns, and I really like it. Unfortunately, Leupy doesn't make it anymore. When illuminated, only the very center "X" hair is illuminated.

At least one of those sold on Gunbroker for $570.00

"Straight walled cartridges of .357 or larger bullet diameter with a case length of 1" or longer"

Thanks. In Indiana, as long as it shoots a .243 or bigger bullet, and the case is over 1.062 long, you are good to go. No straight walled restriction. If you have the cajones, you can use a .50 bmg.

OTOH, our CF rifle regs are .357" bullet minimim, case must be 1.062 - 1.625. No straight wall restriction. Both pistol and CF rifle can only be used in our "gun" season.

We have to be north of 46 to use a rifle, which is in northern Muskegon county. I think it is under 200 miles to the Indiana border. We also have a caliber restriction for deer, not sure what the current spec is, but I do know someone who got busted with a Mini 14 .223 South of 46 taking a deer. Not a happy camper he was after that. Another dude down the road, maybe 5 or 6 years ago was poaching turkeys. One of them was tagged and had a transmitter, he got a year in jail because of the extent of his poaching activities.

Here is another stupid people should not breed story: The Sunday before Christmas a neighbor, about a quarter mile away was playing with his muzzle loader at about 11PM. He had his buddy over as well as his kid. Now, he doesn't have enough property to even shoot on but they were whacking rounds off, probably shooting over the road into a corn field. (his property is shaped like a triangle at about a 60 degree included angle, maybe 200 feet at the widest point)

Yep, as you can imagine, they were all quite heavily under the influence. According to the fire department, the kid threw a fair amount of black powder into the wood stove. About 10 minutes or so later their propane tank blew, they no longer had a garage and part of their mobile home was missing. No one got hurt except for some minor burns. New years, about 1AM the muzzle loader was making noise again.

Quick one: Take a 16yo kid who probably could not pass a drug test (at the time), even though he never did drugs. (it was in his system from birth, parents) A gallon glass jar full of some vintage gun powder, poured on the ground in a neat pile. And a match. He did get hurt. Serious third degree burns and lost his hair in a second. He turned out really good. Building contractor, and respected for his masonry work.

I haven't done any reloading yet for the .44, but I am sure with some testing I could come up with a combination for both my Redhawk and a 77/44 that would be pretty sweet.

Thanks Yolk, I'll check into your recommendations. I was considering a Leupold, but wanted more opinions.

It's not that bad to shoot. You have to hold it correctly, which takes a few more than six rounds to figure out. First time out of the box, six 240 grain rounds convinced me to just clean it and put it in it's nice neat case. I am pretty use to it now, and nothing hurts after a good session, which after about 24 rounds, you kinda had enough.

Big NO NO is shooting with congested sinuses. You can feel your brain move around.

Thanks esshup,

49, and I am going to have to go to the eye man and get some shooting glasses. These 7 level progressive bifocals don't work with scopes. At least they don't have lines in them, but if you move your head too much looking at something at a close distance, you can get dizzy.

All top notch info., and I really appreciate it.

Not too much worried about a good cheekweld with this caliber in a carbine. The .300winmag is quite a different animal. Ya need to be connected pretty good with that one, especially if your BIL is making up some hot loads. Shoulder Burger in 4 rounds. First one is the tenderizer, after that, it all depends on how long you want the black and blue to last.

Take a look at http://www.4scopes.com They rate scopes by several factors.

I wound up with a 300 Win Mag when my Brother passed away. I haven't shot it and don't figure to. Actually, I think I'm going to sell it. My 30-06 has been plenty of gun for me on Whitetail, Mule deer, elk and antelope at a distance.

I have an all original 6.5 x 55 Swedish Mauser. Reading up on both that gun and caliber is intriguing.

I recently bought my Grandson a Weatherby Vanguard in .243. We went through the 2 box break in routine and now I have to start building some loads. It came with a target showing a 3 shot group that you could cover with a dime. Since I have no personal experience with a 1 in 10 twist, I called the Gunsmiths at Sierra bullets and got some recommendations. Those guys are pretty good without the condescending attitude that I have often found in that world.

The 77/44 all-weather is what I bought for the 2009 gun season. I could not find one locally, but a friend found one for me. I mounted a 40mm Leopold variable VXIII using the stock rings. I also wrapped the SS barrel with some cammo tape (acually like the stff you wrap up a sprain with, so its removable and re-usable). I like Leopold scopes for their brightness. I added Butler Creek lense covers for nasty weather. If you site in the gun with a coat on your OK, but a tee-shirt limits the number of rounds that I want to shoot. I plan to test the Hornady Lever Evoloution rounds for improved acurracy when the weather breaks. I really like the gun. It just feels comfortable, like my 10/22, but with a lot more wallap. My single-shot rifled-barrel shotgun won't get used again.

PS. The gun cost me $600 with tax new.

jkb, feel free to email me what scope you decide you want I can probably save you quite a bti of money. Just got a nikon for fish clietn and saved him $285 over BPS price.

Well ended watefowl on good note for fun. I shot poorly but me and two buddies shot at same mallard. Banded get in Ontario and get this august 2000. I think it has got to be a mistake. He was big but never heard of one that old. Anyway Justen does not have band so we agreed he killed. Beside he can fork over the $185 to mount it and I can go view anytime i want. Went yesterday eve and had good groups of geese in and missed also. I think I got footage of miss and buddies kill. I will view later son got very sick with virus so not much time to download but promise to edit and youtube the glasses video footage since talked about so much.

+1 for Greg. A buddy of mine got a scope from him, best price around and great service. I've heard some good things about the Nikon Scopes.

Greg, a 10 year old Mallard? Wow! Take care of the kids, the video can wait.

My buddy has a .44 Mag wheelgun, I'll ask him what scope he's got on it. He just had to buy a Tarus Raging Bull in .480 Ruger. He ran about 40 rounds thru it and put it away, saying that the recoil was too bad. I shot it, and bought it. While I wouldn't want to shoot it all day long, I don't think it's too bad. If I'm using my Muzzleloader and chasing after hogs, that .480 is going along for the ride as well.

For load development work, I have a gun rest that is very similar to the Lead Sled, except that I chain the front end down to the shooting bench. That really saves the shoulder! A buddy really appreciated it when he was playing around with his .375 H&H.

I was kicking around the idea of building up a rifle for deer here in Indiana, but now I'm thinking of building a Striker with a magazine instead. I want something that will reach out 300 yd. or so, and that seems the most cost effective way to do it.

Dave, the guys at Sierra really helped me figure out what my Vanguard would like. Did they tell you about checking it to see if it prefers Flat Based bullets or Boattails? I've got a .243 Browning A-bolt that likes the 85g Barnes TSX bullets shoved by IMR-4831.

Well look what I found :

Aaawwwww..., he's smiling at you!

That's a fat one! Was it going in or coming out??

Trying to kill trees by blocking a culvert 100 yards behind the dam.

Now you gotta find the den.....

Quick and painless...

Scott, the guy gave me 3 loads using 3 different bullets. However, I've been to 3 gun shops and Cabelas and haven't found the right bullets. I'm going to have to order them.

Dave:

My selection of .243 bullets is small. I have: Barnes TSX BT 85g, Sierra GameKing 100g Spitzer BT, Speer Grand Slam 100g FB and Hornady A-Max 100g BT. If you need any of them to try, LMK.

Esshup you like the Hornady A-Max? I just ordered a case of those for a client in .270.

Greg:

I haven't used them on game, just paper and they shoot great. I just ordered a variety of bullets for the .243 when I got it, and the TSX worked. They are more of a match bullet vs. a hunting bullet, and Hornady says that they aren't intended for use on medium and large game. I think it all depends on the impact velocity. The .243 was purchased for Whitetails, and since I didn't know if the shots would be 30' or 300 Yds I started with the TSX's. The one deer that I shot with it was probably 40' away, and I put the bullet in one ear and out the other, so any bullet would have worked. I wasn't happy with the 100g Nosler Ballistic Tip in .257 Wby. I shot a doe @ 80 yds., and I probably wouldn't have recovered her if I didn't watch her run and die. No blood trail 'cept 10 yds before she tipped over, and she ran for 80 Yds. That's when I switched to the TSX for any "big" game that would see impact speeds over 3000 fps.