Here's where you can join me for my latest adventure. Sometimes it will be hunting, (sometimes even when we don't get the game), sometimes shooting, sometimes travel or just plain adventuring, sometimes the discovery of a new product or principle. Anyway, it should be fun and hopefully entertaining.
Spring Turkey Hunt 2006
Here I am 7 months out from a total knee replacement, with no cane or crutch, hunting turkeys in south Texas right near the Mexican border, in costume, with a fancy Frenchified 12 gauge Fusil. This Fusil is the one UPS broke through the wrist for me. I fixed it with a steel pin epoxied long-ways through the wrist, then hid the break with a silver turtle thumb piece and brass tear drop finials behind the lock and sideplate where the original carved-in teardrops were found. I put a Colonial screw-in inter-changable choke in it, used a Super-Full for this hunt and loaded 115 grains Goex FFg under 1 7/8 oz #71/2 lead shot. It proved to be a sure killer with terrific patterns. I got two toms, both at 35 yards, both very suddenly dead with 4-5 head hits and several in the neck on both birds. Don't you believe the nonsense that 7 1/2 lead shot won't kill birds. It has for me for years.
Only two of the birds are mine, but six make an impressive
picture.
Can't
hardly see the break, can you? If you want to see the whole gun click on
'archives' above
SIDE BY SIDE DOUBLE FLINTLOCK RIFLE SHOTGUN
The
NorthWest corner of my shop. Most of the guns shown here are assembled, 'in the
white', ready to be finished.
I usually build a dozen or so reproduction guns at a time, doing all the barrel inletting, then lock inletting then buttplates and trigger guards, etc., on the whole dozen at a time. When I got back from the last turkey hunt, this little double combination gun caught my eye. I just could not resist working on it to near completion. Whims like that hit me once in a while. If your order is late, such things may be the reason.
Double guns are far more difficult than single barrel stuff. Not only is the inletting of locks doubled, the fuss and bother of cutting false breeches for the side by side barrels is a pain and the hand work is time consuming.
The most difficult thing is regulating the barrels. Once the gun is put together, to at least a point where it can be shot, then a load is selected and the gun is shot, usually at 25 yards, using false sights. Normally, the shots cross over. Then the gun goes back to the shop, a thin wedge is re-soldered in place between the barrel ends, and the gun is shot again. It usually takes a 1/2 dozen tries to get the barrels right. If one barrel shoots higher than the other, this has to be fixed too, each fix requiring re-soldering. It can become a real mess.
This combination gun has a .73 caliber (12 gauge) barrel on the right and a 50 caliber GRRW rifled barrel on the left. It is arranged this way so the shotgun barrel is on the shooting hand side for fast cocking and the rifle barrel side is on the left side where the trigger leverage produces a lighter trigger pull. The barrels are 20 inches long, the pull on the English style stock is 14 inches over what is destined to become a leather covered recoil pad. (That is, if I can learn how to cover recoil pads with leather like the English did.) Those are a pair of Siler locks, great sparkers, with a Nock style double hooked breech and double triggers. There is a single fore-arm key. The fore-arm has been left square for barrel regulation. A big risk with doubles is that the barrels may not fit the barrel mortice well at all once the regulation process is over. Note the false wood sights taped in place. These will be replaced by soldered rib and sights once regulation is satisfactory.
I normally try to get both barrels to group at 25 and 50 yards with bullets in the same group using the same amount of powder in each barrel. I want the powder charge to be the same for ball or bullet on the smoothbore side as well as for the rifled side. I chose 100 grains Goex 2Fg Black Powder for the load, using a 490 ball on the rifled side and a 715 ball on the smoothbore side, loading both with the same patch. Obviously, I want to use the same powder measure and patch for both barrels.
To my amazement, the gun shot into a tight group with the first shots, which is a first for me. The bullets groups within a inch and a half at 25 and 50 yards, plenty good for the close range game-taking the gun was intended for. It also guarantees that a shot charge will shoot to point of aim. This will make a great tree-stand whitetail and turkey gun.
Here's
the target. The red patch is the aiming point. The first two shots at 12 yards
hit slightly low and right with the 'try' sights, but note the closeness of the bullet placement. The
top groups was shot at 25 and 50 yards and are still in roughly the same
group. This means the bullets are almost parallel all the way out. Once the
permanent sights are affixed, they will shoot centers,
The little gun now has the fore-stock countoured and the rear thimble fitted. The ribs and thimbles have been soldered on and a steel ramrod with brass tip fitted. I used a low folding rear sight and low front with a bright bead to catch the light. The walnut stock is finished with Laural Mountain sealer and varnish, but it still lacks checkering and engraving.
This was my PERSONAL gun kit #95. I put matching numbers on the stocks, barrels and small parts kit bags for each project as they accumulate. Some parts are really hard to get and barrels and stocks may sit for years before all the small parts are gathered together. This one has been waiting for at least 3 years to get finished.
Here is the final result, Right : a turkey taken in Kansas on a hunt with Randy Smith. Left: Utah Merriam.
Permanent sights are now on the gun and a Colonial brand inter-changable .670 Super Turkey choke tapped into the 12 gauge shotgun barrel. (If shooting ball, use a .730 choke) I used 1 1/2 oz. of 7 1/2 lead shot over 90 grains Black Powder separated by two WonderWads and a White PowerCup with another WonderWad over the shot. I took the shot at 30+ yards with an instant kill on the Kansas bird and near 40 yards on the Utah tom. The touch-hole insert in the shotgun barrel is stainless steel with 0.100 inch diameter holes for instant ignition. Smaller 0.060" to 0.080 touch-holes are fine for the rifle side, but you need a big 0.090 to 0.100" hole for fast ignition on flying game in the field.
WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN
JUST BACK FROM THE MANUFACTURER'S MATCH AT FRIENDSHIP. GUESS WHO WON?
WHITERIFLES DID!!!
Here are
the guys who really won the match. That's me on the left, then Rusty Cotrell,
Lowell Crane, Merle Crane, David Jones and Steven Dick. Steven was the alternate
and managed the spotting scope. All I did was cheer.
Congratulations to all for great shooting and great teamwork. An article on the rifles can be found under the WHATS NEW hyperlinc above. All the shooters used SWISS 3F black powder and the new White .367 PowerPunch bullet weighing 305 grains with loads of between 35 and 55 grains, depending on range. The team scope was the LEUPOLD Vari-X III 3.5-10 power target model with triple turret and adjustable objective.
BOOK CLIFFS MULE DEER HUNT 0CT '06
Late
Tuesday afternoon, Oct 24th, I went to the Book Cliffs 75 miles SE
of Roosevelt, UT over the roughest roads in the world, on a draw hunt for mule deer,
I was one of 65 muzzleloading hunters out of 2002 applicants for 2006. The area
measures about 40 X 40 miles with nary a fence in the whole place. I took a
homebuilt 62 cal Flinter late Plains silver mounted fullstock shooting 140 gr
FFg and .600 cal patched ball. I pulled my
little 15 foot trailer down, am getting too old and stiff for camping on the
ground. I later wished that I had left it home as the hard bounce getting there
blew out the electricity. I was lucky to have a gas lantern along.
I camped over-night Tues. I was like a kid on his first hunt. I Got up at 4, just couldn't sleep any longer, It didn't get light until 6:30. At 5 am I went to SteamBoat Canyon where I had scouted 13 good bucks the Saturday before and found 4 camps right in the middle of the crossing. The bucks here this time of year are all together in batchelor herds of usually 2-6, they come up out of the steep bottoms to get to water which strangely is always near the top of the ridges, so you hunt the ridges, watching for them to cross..
I pulled down the road a ways and sat out the dark until it got light enough to see the open sights on the rifle. I was high on the BookCliffs Divide at 8400 feet and could see Price, Utah off to the south about 50 miles away and 4000 feet lower. Several guys on 4 wheelers come roaring past going down country to Tom Patterson Canyon (named after a famous old cowboy), I guess they didn't know that there are no deer down there, not 'til later when weather forces them down. Strange how the 4 wheeler riders think that they are going to see more deer if they go fast and make a lot of noise. To the contrary, before the morning was over I saw several bucks turn and bounce away from the noisy machines where they would merely watch cautiously as I approached them with my nice, quiet, well muffled Suburban.
Once it got light I went west, with the morning sun at my back, saw several bucks coming up and over the Divide, some others already headed back after watering. I was the only outfit on the road going west. Everyone else, including the deer, had the sun in their eyes. I only saw 2 other outfits, both rushing to get somewhere. I had gone about 6 miles back towards camp when two big three points crossed the road in front of me, coming from a muddy pond on my right. They were not spooked at all. Both were about 22-24' wide and taller than they were wide with fairly heavy horns. The bigger one had a huge belly on him, fatter than me. I stopped and watched them cross then turn east into the sun. They were really pretty with the morning sun just coming over the hill lighting them up like beacons.
I started away when the thought hit me, why didn't I shoot? I was enjoying the sights, more tourist than predator. I had not seen any bigger deer while scouting or hunting and the deer were hog fat. I turned the truck around and crept back down the road, trying to guess where they might be. I finally stopped after going about 100 yards, got out quietly, primed the rifle and tiptoed up a little rise. I had gone about 50 yards when I saw a sagebrush move. I knew I had them, the tips of the bigger bucks antlers moving over the top of the brush. They were about 70 yards away, walking slowly into the sun, eyes scrunched up against the glare. They had no interest in me, I doubt if they knew I was there. I waited until the big bellied buck came out of the sage into a more open place, exposing his chest, then stood up straight and assumed my best offhand stance, just as if I was on the target line, and touched off the shot, aiming at the point of the elbow. The buck went almost down to his knees, front legs buckling under him, then regained his balance and stumbled off downhill, hard hit. The other buck ran back the way he came after staring at me bug eyed and open mouthed for a second.
I found his blood trail right off, foamy blood on the brush
thigh high on both sides of his tracks. I found him 100 yards down hill. Here
was the challenge, getting him back up to the truck. Looked like he weighed
better than 280 lbs. It was all I could do to lift his forequarters and head off
the ground. He was a lot lighter after I gutted him, so much belly fat that the
sticky suet plastered my hands and arms. I tied a rope around his horns and made
a sling that I could get into. I found I couldn't pull him with me facing
forward, had to turn around and back up, more power in the legs that way and I
could use my considerable weight to advantage. Took me 3 hours of huffing and
puffing to get him to the top. I would pull him 3-4 inches at a time for 8-10 feet then have to stop and
rest. Just as I pulled up to the the truck, two big teenagers showed up. They had been
watching from the top of the hill . They helped me load the buck into the truck.
Alas, I had forgotten my camera, so had to get a photo at home.
DOC
TURKEYS, SPRING, 2007
IWent
back to Texas for turkey again. This time I took a percussion over-under with
back action locks, 12 gauge barrel over and GRRW 58 cal rifle under. The weather
was awful with near freezing cold, high winds, rain, sleet and snow. The turkeys
were on edge because of the wind, the Toms were just beginning to strut with the
hens paying them absolutely no attention. I lucked into a flock with four big
Toms, and managed to call three of them in close enough for a shot. I had to
call the Boss Hen over to get them there, taking advantage of a big woodpile. I
hid behind the woodpile, dashing from one end to the other, calling as if I was
a Boss Hen and challenging the flock's Boss to a fight. The Toms came with her.
I took the shot over a low place in the pile from tiptoes, at 25 yards.
My second Tom was a huge one. He came in from 6-800 yards away, gobbling only occasionally and fluffing out into a strut rarely. I got him to 50 yards with the usual low volume sexy putts and purrs then he hung up, walking back and forth , gobbling a demand that the hen come to him. In desperation, I finally did the Boss Hen thing again, and here he came. He was nervous though, ducking and dipping as he came. When he hit 30 yards, I alarm called him to get his head up, put the sights under his chin and pulled the trigger just as he ducked. I tried but could not stop the trigger pull and shot right over his back. then laughed myself silly at the sight of him charging me through the smoke. He ran on past and disappeared in the brush.
My next chance came on two Toms that came in silently, no strutting or gobbling, just curious, occasional putting. I could not get them closer than 37 yards, finally popping the bigger of the two.
The load I used was 110 grains of FFg Black Powder , two 1/8th inch Wonder Wads, then a White tapered shotcup with four 1/2 inch slits, loaded with 1 7/8th oz. of #7 1/2 chilled shot, topped by another Wonder Wad. This produced 80% patterns at 40 yards, using a Colonial Super-Full .670 choke, good enough to put 6-9 shot in each of the two Toms head and neck.
An interesting thing about the gun is that I had the wood, barrels and original back action locks lying around for nearly 30 years, the locks awaiting repair and final assembly into a functioning shotgun-rifle combo. I put the barrels together with tang and double trigger plate probably 15 years ago, inletted the wood for the tang maybe 10 years ago, finally got the locks repaired about 3 years ago and finished the thing on a whim over the winter of 2007
Here's
the third bird of the '07 season, this one taken in Kansas. Randy Smith hosted
me. It was cold and windy and the birds were not calling. I heard only a single
gobble the whole time. I finally resorted to an ambush at a crossing place. This
Rio Grande appeared 30 feet to my front. I had dozed off and awoke to find him
staring at me. Fortunately,I was well enough camoflaged that he didn't see me
lying under a tree like a dead log, and wandered past, giving me a chance to get
the over-under up and get off a shot. I have never killed a turkey closer.
A
And
here's the fourth Tom of the season, a Utah Merriam, killed with that same 12/58
over under, same load, at 8000 feet in the high mountain junipers and pines of
NorthEastern Utah. I managed to blunder into this bird, he had just come out of
a tree at first light, but saw him before he saw me, called him in to 30 yards
from about 100, just using soft little peeps and sparing clucks. I had aquired
some Italian nickle plated #7 shot, which did him in but good. It's just amazing
how good muzzleloading shotgun patterns can be.
The Kanai RIver, Alaskan Penninsula, July 2007
I lived in Alaska near Anchorage for 2 years back in '66-'68. I was drafted out of residency for the Viet Nam conflict and they sent me to Alaska. I go back from time to time and like always, it was good to be back again. That old blue boat (above, left) has been in the same place near Soldotna for the last 50 years. The photo above, right, gives you an idea of what 'Combat Fishing" looks like. The Red Salmon come up the Kenai heading for their spawning grounds, the fishermen ambush them on the way.
We lucked into a good run of King Salmon, too. I caught a 30 pounder (left above) while my two boys James (standing right behind his fish) and David (standing right) in the photo above, right, caught 51 and 52 pounders respectively. Les Bennet, standing on the left, caught two, turning a smallish 18 pounder back to catch a 30 plus pounder later.
That's
an active volcano across Cook Inlet, seen just at dusk. It had been puffing
smoke all day. We fished for Halibut out in the Bay. Hauling those heavy
critters up out of the deep is like pulling up your grandma's coal stove. Can't
wait to go back.
(Photo credits to son James, who in real life is a Physician, but who does great photography)
FORT BRIDGER 2007
We enjoyed a terrific Rendezvous this year. With the high gas prices and the overlong distances many have to travel to get to the Wyoming high plains, I feared that the festivities would be curtailed, but such was not the case. There were as many participants as usual, if not more, and best of all, there were more shooters than I've ever seen, and many of them were younger folks just getting into the game. This is indeed promising as Rendezvous muzzleloading has been getting grey headed for a long time.
This is a photo of the firing line, between shoots. That's me in the pink striped shirt, caught in a casual pose.
Whitetail Deer Kansas 07
A Big, Fat Kansas Whitetail, corn and alfalfa fed, 10 points, scoring 147 gross, using a White ThunderBolt in 451 caliber, 100 gr 777 and my 45/40-350 saboted Power Star bullet fired by a 336 primer. I have never seen such a fat deer.
This hunt started at the Safari Club Show in Vegas last year. I met the Kelso brothers there, who hunt whitetail in Kansas, where they have about a million acres leased. They had some good looking deer in their booth, but the real attraction was the brothers. I have met few more ardent hunters. Randy Smith had always been enthusiastic about Kansas deer hunting as well, so I bit.
Kansas muzzleloading season is usually early, late September this year. I drove to Lyons, Kansas, then south a few miles to camp. There were another 8 hunters in camp plus a guide for every two hunters. We hunted from ground blinds, ladder stands and natural cover. As usual, the deer came out early, bedded during the day, then came out again in the evening.
We were hunting in the middle of some gorgeous farmland growing corn, sorgum and hay, a great combination for fat deer. It was cut by smallish streams and bigger rivers, which gave the deer lots of cover and strolling space.
As luck would have it, opening day was cold, with a little rain and a cold breeze. Actually, that was a lucky break, since the deer graze longer when its cold. When it's hot, they feed less, and feed just as the sun is coming up or going down. We saw good numbers of deer that first day, mostly because of the cold.
I saw three eight pointers that morning, none big enough to shoot, and saw twice that many later in the evening. This bigger deer came out just at dusk, joining a crowd of about 20 assorted bucks and does. We were hidden in a log pile about a hundred yards from a crossing point. I could see 5 points on one side with 4 on the other and a double brow tine, making 5 on that side too. What I really liked was that he was just out of the velvet and was fat as a pig, really sleek and slab sided.
I took the shot at about 90 yards. I was really glad for the fiberoptik front sight as the light was failing fast. There was a solid 'WOP' and blood misting in the air on the shot and he walked slowly off about 20 yards and went down. We gave him a few minutes then walked up on him. He tried to get up and I gave him another in the spine at about 60 yards. I had hit him further to the rear than I like, rupturing the liver and puncturing both lungs but with not enough damage for a quick death. The amazing thing was the severe damage to the liver, it was in little peices, with a bucket or two of blood extravasating from it, yet the deer managed to stay alive long enough to need a second shot in the neck from 60 yards.
Keaton
Kelso. He says that it's as much fun to guide other hunters to deer as it is to
kill one himself.
Maui, Hawaii. Oct 07
This doesn't have much to do with muzzleloading except that the Axis deer hunt that I had set up on Maui didn't happen. So that big 135 lb Yellowfin tuna was a decent substitute. Well, almost. What the jerks running the boat didn't tell me was that the fish belonged to the boat. If I did not want to pay them their $800 trophy fee then they would sell it locally for the tourists to eat. The $40 fresh tuna steak I ate that night probably came from that same fish. It turned out that I paid to be crew for a commercial fishing expedition. Wish I had a racket that good.
If you ever go to Maui, be aware that the place is craftily arranged to extract every last possible dollar out of your wallet.
The boat trolled fast, 8-10 knots. The tunafish ran off 300 yards of line on the
strike. Then it was a 45 minute battle. No sport here, just hard work. When it
came up to the boat, it took one look then dashed off another 200 yards of line
and the fight started all over. I have worked harder taking an elk out of the
mountans, but I had the elk down before the work started. Here you have to do
the work first.
These
guys (the crew) were delighted with the catch. They should have been, it
earned them about $200 each. They spread the news all over the marine radio.
There was a big crowd waiting at the dock to see the fish. There were also a
couple of fish buyers waiting to bid. I got the idea that maybe the catch was a
rare thing.
Dunno,
maybe I shouldn't complain. I thought nothing of paying trophy fees for animals
killed in Africa. Maybe I'm just spoiled. Too many years, too much success.
Dunno. Of course, if you could shoot fish, I would probably fish a lot more than
I do.
APRIL 2008 TEXAS TURKEY WITH A CLUB BUTT DOGLOCK 1710 FOWLER
This
early fowler is Queene Anne era with English Doglock, club butt, early ttrigger
guard with tang screw extending up from the bottom, walnut fullstock holding a
Colerain tapered octagon to round 12 gauge barrel 42 inches long. It will
eventually have some flowers chip carved into the butt (there is a famous fowler
done this way that I copied) but didn't get it done in time for the turkey hunt.
It has an interchangable choke up front so shoots terrific patterns. I used 2
oz #7 Italian nickle plated shot over 110 grains Goex ffG black powder.
The lock is a particularly fine sparker (did the springs and frizzen myself). I
had never fired it before the hunt. After the first test load, the next three
shots produced three birds, the longest shot at 45 big long steps.
We drove down to the Continental Ranch near Sanderson, Texas. It was in the 90's there where at home is was freezing. The first bird came in with qa group of toms. The strut hadn't even started and the toms were still traveling together and not responding to calls. They just happened to wander by. I took a 30 yard shot on the largest of the bunch. The second Tom came in to my sexy calls two days later, now in the strut but still cautious. He was with a dozen hens. I had to challenge the Boss Hen to get him close enough for a shot. I took him at 35 yards. The third bird came a day later, striding past a group of Jakes, not looking right or left. He was moving so fast that by the time I realized he wasn't going to hesitate, then swing ahead of him, he was 45 big , long steps away. He went down just as quick as the others.
The
gun shoots terrific patterns. The birds were suddenly dead with the shot with many
hits in head and neck. Hunting turkey with a flint fowler is the epitome of
thrill, especially when you make it yourself. The fact that it all works and you
get the bird is downright exciting.
Later
in the season I joined Randy Smith for a turkey hunt in Kansas. The photo the
the left shows what I wish had happened. The photo below shows what really did.
I made the mistake of having the Browning cl,oser than the Doglock, and the
doglock not loaded when two Toms suddenly showed, practically falling into out
laps. We hadn't even walked into the hide yet and in fact had barely stepped out
of the truck. There was no time for the doglock, so I killed the two toms with
the modern monstrosity, two of the few that I have taken with a back-up gun and
the only two not killed when the weather was just too rotten for a muzzleloader.
Once
again, my adage that the only birds we kill are the idiots was proven by these
two. They already had a passel of hens with them, yet they suckered for a few
sexy yelps and strutted right into a faceful of shot while their hens looked on.
The Boss Hen didn't even come with them. Reminds me of some of my friends, they
turn into awful idiots when around the ladies.
Apr 08- The Adventure of a Wheel-lock rifle
This is the beginning of an ongoing pictorial project. I started a small caliber wheel-lock rifle shortly ago. The photos will show its progress as it comes along. We will start with the plank and end with the finished gun.
Basically, the gun is a Dutch-German wheel-lock. The original would have been made about 1650 or so in the Old Country. The stock is a plain but nice grained piece of walnut, the barrel a 40 cal GM, swamped and 38 inches long. The lock kit came from The Rifle Shoppe. It is illustrated in their catalogue on a pistol, but is the perfect size for this small light rifle.
We start with a European walnut blank big enough for any wheelock of any style. It came from Dunlap and cost $200
The wood looks a lot better after planing it and bandsawing it to shape, 'in the square".
Once
the walnut is 'squared, the barrel and tang can be inletted. I use a milling
machine to partially inlet the swamped barrel, then finish the inletting by hand
using liberal quantities of inletting black and chisels. The next step is
inletting the buttplate. This particular plate is an early iron meant for Jaeger
rifles, but cut down to a more simple shape more in context with the wheelock. I
got it from Trackofthewolf and it cost $20
I
I
I cut the sight slots in with my ancient Bridgeport milling machine. It's an
easy job if you go slow and patient. I like my underlugs staked in then soldered
with Brownell's Force 44, a silver bearing high tensil strength solder. I have
seen this done on a few old guns and it makes the joint much stronger.
Now
we get started with the lock. The lock kit came from TheRIfleShoppe and cost $125 for the castings. The springs have not been tempered or the wheel hardened,
those jobs are left to the purchaser. Now the lock plate has been inletted.
You can see that this is my project #123. Details on the construction of the
lock will follow.