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[DrMike]

Welcome to the forum, Plagioclase; good to have you aboard. Sounds like you're pretty well squared away. Anyone who retains Winchesters has to have his head screwed on straight. Seriously, this is a great place to hang out--a great group of people. I know we'll all look forward to having opportunity to get to know you better.

 

[SJB358]

Welcome aboard buddy! You sound like a perfect fit around here! Sounds like you have a ton of experience. Love to hear more about your deer hunting and elk in Colorado.

Again, welcome aboard. Since you already have a 35 Whelen, you'll fend off that danged Dr. Mike for a little while! HA!

 

[DrMike]

Since you already have a 35 Whelen, you'll fend off that danged Dr. Mike for a little while! HA!

What'd I do to merit such attention? I'm not the one coercing the innocent into more Winchesters! :grin:

 

[Germanfan]

At the urging of DrMike, I will add my background or small pieces of it. Born in the blue ridge mountains of VA, hunted for many years with my dad and granddad, kept guns in the car in the high school parking lot so I could go straight to the woods. Served 21 years in the USAF or so they told me, 8 years of it was spent with Army units and the last 12 were in joint duty billets. Retired in a blue uniform. Fortunate enough to spend six years in Germany, obtained my jagdschein for hunting and my pulverschein to buy powder and primers in Germany. While there, built a craze for European combination guns and metric calibers, although my go to meat caliber is still the .30-06. It will take too long to list my firearms and calibers, but my wife has told more than one other wife....he doesn't play golf or scuba dive, but he sure does love to shoot. Became a hunting instructor in the German hunting course and hunted game management in Germany for several years. Returned to Virginia and still enjoy volunteering as a hunter ed instructor. Love to hunt, and hope to call in a nice Spring Gobbler tomorrow morning.

 

[SJB358]

Welcome aboard Germanfan. Good luck with the gobblers. Slim pickings here for me.

 

[DrMike]

Pulling for you to enjoy great success on turkey tomorrow, Germanfan. Good to have you aboard.

 

[pisc1024]

I have been lurking on the forum for quite some time, and finally decided to register. I have been into long range shooting big time for about three years.
I hand load for 300 Win Mag, 270 Win, 308 Win, and .44Mag. I hope to soon add to that the 6.5x55SE, but dont tell my wife, she doesn't know about that yet .
I really like the the forum, and hope I can bring a little bit to the discussion.
Edit to add: also I am a really bad speller, so be gentle :mrgreen: .

 

[SJB358]

Welcome aboard buddy! Glad to have you here! Scotty

 

[DrMike]

Welcome aboard, pisc1024. If you've lurked around for a while, you know that we're a pretty laid back group. No doubt you can contribute and we'll all benefit. Good to see another shooter and hunter posting.

 

[truck driver]

Edit to add: also I am a really bad speller, so be gentle :mrgreen: .

Don't feel bad there are a lot of us here that don't know how to use spell check. :roll: :lol:

 

[ColColt]

As not to bore anyone to tears talking about myself I'll make it short and sweet. I've been a shooter for about five decades. I started reloading in 1969-30-06, of course to be followed by the 270 Winchester since I was and remain a great fan of the late Jack O'Connor. Currently in the safe are three of them. Many other calibers came after that and I got into BPCR casting and shooting around 1972. I had a beautiful Shiloh Sharps 45-90 for a few months but had to give it up as it was beating me to death. A skinny, crescent shaped steel butt plate and older boney shoulders are not a good combination.

Glad to be on the forum as Nosler was one of the very first bullets I tried in the 270 and '06 "back in the day". My custom 270 by the late Hal Hartley of Lenoir, NC was a tack driver for a 270 and loved the 130 gr Partition bullet with 60 gr of H4831. I'm currently working on loads for my latest 270, a Vanguard S2 Deluxe and a Savage Predator Hunter in 243 Winchester. Old shoulders need something soft to shoot now and then and the 243 fits the bill as does the Sako Vixen .222. That one is pure enjoyment without bruises.

 

[DrMike]

Again, welcome aboard. It is always a pleasure to meet shooters/hunters/hand loaders from around the world.

 

[SJB358]

Welcome aboard! That Sako Vixen sounds like a beauty!

 

[Micky80]

Howdy! Just getting started with reloading. Looking forward to learning about and enjoying reloading for 30.06, .308, and .223. Eventually will add .45ACP, 9MM, .270 WSM, and .280 Remington.

 

[DrMike]

Welcome aboard, Micky. We're always glad to meet new people. You're loading some truly classic and versatile cartridges. Your planned additions are also speaking to the interest of others hanging out around here. The .280 Rem is assuredly one of my favourites, and the .270 WSM has managed to find a place in my arsenal. Fine cartridges. Of course, in handguns, the 9mm and the .45 ACP are simply classic. Any particular hunting that occupies your time?

 

[FOTIS]

Howdy! Just getting started with reloading. Looking forward to learning about and enjoying reloading for 30.06, .308, and .223. Eventually will add .45ACP, 9MM, .270 WSM, and .280 Remington.

Welcome aboard Buddy!

 

[SJB358]

Welcome aboard Micky. Sounds like you've got a great start!

 

[Micky80]

Welcome aboard, Micky. We're always glad to meet new people. You're loading some truly classic and versatile cartridges. Your planned additions are also speaking to the interest of others hanging out around here. The .280 Rem is assuredly one of my favourites, and the .270 WSM has managed to find a place in my arsenal. Fine cartridges. Of course, in handguns, the 9mm and the .45 ACP are simply classic. Any particular hunting that occupies your time?

Thanks Mike. I primarily hunt Whitetail Deer and Rio Grand Turkey. My family has hunted together for over 50 years. Therefore, I was blessed to be in the field at about 8 years old. Killed my first buck at 10. Many fond memories over the last 48 years.

Bowhunting has been a passion of mine for many years. Actually, I spent almost a decade without picking up my Remington model 700 chambered in 30.06. Killed many deer with a bow. After a handful of trips to the Rockies, I finally arrowed a bull in the high country near Yellowstone in Wyoming.

Now, I still enjoy hunting with my bow. The attention to detail, from assembling my own arrows and tuning my bow to playing the wind and scouting, is what makes the "hunt" for me. With my rifle, I can each out there. But, I hunt open country and have to use the terrain, the wind, and knowledge of how the deer move around. In the last couple of years I have hunted with my LaRue Tactical PredatAR 7.62. It has been a blast. I sometimes have to carry my own bush for concealment in wide open terrain. The picture for my avatar is an example. I cut a branch from a cedar that was in a draw. I used it for "cover" as I stalked several hundred yards to get into position. That morning I killed 5 doe within 30 minutes. They ranged from 60 to almost 300 yards. 5 shots - 5 kills. That was fun.

My sons hunt with me. And, I enjoy that more than anything. Life is good. God is great!

Thanks to all for the welcome. Sorry for the long post.

Micky

 

[DrMike]

No need to apologize for the length of your post; most people here enjoy reading the experiences of others. There are a number here who use stick and string to hunt. You are correct that it can be taxing to ensure that all the details have been considered in order to get close enough to the quarry to tag it. Fresh out of training at Quantico (more years ago than I care to remember), I worked on the aqueduct system from Lake Meredith to West Texas. I fell in love with the Panhandle and the western part of the state. Later, when completing post-doctoral studies at UTHSCD, I hunted mule deer in the Big Bend area. Where are you primarily hunt? Any game pictures tend to excite the rabble hanging out around here. :grin:

 

[Micky80]

No need to apologize for the length of your post; most people here enjoy reading the experiences of others. There are a number here who use stick and string to hunt. You are correct that it can be taxing to ensure that all the details have been considered in order to get close enough to the quarry to tag it. Fresh out of training at Quantico (more years ago than I care to remember), I worked on the aqueduct system from Lake Meredith to West Texas. I fell in love with the Panhandle and the western part of the state. Later, when completing post-doctoral studies at UTHSCD, I hunted mule deer in the Big Bend area. Where are you primarily hunt? Any game pictures tend to excite the rabble hanging out around here. :grin:

We hunt in West Central Texas, near San Angelo. My sons and I hunt a six section ranch about 20 miles out. The landowner has cleared all trees and brush (except in the creek bottom), and it is pretty much open prairie. We have a Managed Land Deer Permit that allows us to hunt from October through February. We had to kill 48 doe and 11 bucks last season. I posted a couple pictures in the 2014 hunting forum.

Here is one of me with my bull elk. He was walking straight at me when I released my arrow at 12 yards. My 62# Mathews HeliM, with 28" draw length, drove the 428 grain arrow full length through the bull. He went 15 yards and piled up. We were at 10,400 feet.

Going to get my bull.