Thanks, gang, for the support and votes of confidence!  At 57 it's hard and somewhat scary to start over!

Merwin, I plan on doing some relining, but it will be a bit as I start pounding nails today on the shop...just waiting on my first lumber delivery.  I'm taking over half of the garage, I have a small lathe (11x24") and a not-yet-running 10x54" mill.  Eventually I hope to offer barrel octagoning/fluting, plus other services like lining, recoil pads (for the local trade), possibly Parkerizing (again, for the local shotgun deer/turkey hunters) and rust bluing.  It will take a while to get all my ducks in the same row...sort of like herding cats!   

David
Montezuma, IA

bnice wrote on Mar 4^th, 2008 at 7:28pm:


My state, MS, also has one of those ignorant shotgun-only laws. Wonder what the original rationale was?

Fearless Frank has several thousand acres of nice hunting land with only a few rules. One rule is that no shotguns can be used on turkeys under any circumstances. Another rule is that no game wardens are allowed on his property. His favorite turkey rifle is a 220 Swift, but excellent results have also been achieved with the 32-20 WCF when compared to either the Hormet or 25-20. Apparently the slightly heavier 32-20 bullet is just as accurate and flat-shooting at ranges up to 125 yds and is a slightly better killer. FYI, YMMV of course.

Our MS shotgun-only law is a fairly recent one, maybe 20 years now. It has provoked many heated debates but little actual comparative experience or factual reporting of results. One of my oldest friends, retired from the State Narcotics folks, could easily be enticed into an argument that would result in him becoming so agitated that he would sometimes jump up & down in rage at the idea of anyone actually shooting a turkey with a rifle. Horrors!

I, of course, took great & repeated pleasure in taunting him that he might change his mind if he ever learned to shoot straight enough to actually hit the turkey with anything other than his spray-&-pray scattergun!

After all, what are friends for, anyway? I told him that he needed to go back over to the MHP training facility at Pearl, MS, and take some more shooting lessons from Jim Hemphill, the National Champion in charge of the center. Even offered to make him an appointment and work out a schedule. Heck, I even offered to teach him myself!

I won't repeat what he told me to do.

Anyway, don't discount the 32-20, it has a great rep with actual woodsmen. The new 32 Magnums should also be excellent choices IMO.
Good luck, Joe

bnice wrote on Mar 5^th, 2008 at 10:09am:


i'm connnecting the dots  - oh so slowly.  But I do catch on.

Brent

Quote:


Yes, unfortunately. IMO there's not enough difference in their trajectories to matter up to about 100-125 yds. Depending, of course, upon just exactly which bullet!

I like the 256 WM but it's not suitable for most small-dia liners, nor is a 32 Mag. I believe the heavier TJ's liners would probably be OK however for the magnums but I've never used one.
Regards, Joe

SC went shotgun only 35 or so years ago. Prior to that the Hornet was the preferred rifle round, followed by the 30-30. I started to build a SS bolt gun from scratch for the hornet, then they outlawed rifles for turkey- still have the roughed out 3 lug bolt and 8620 bar for the receiver! Very popular around here were drillings in 16 ga/hornet- lots of heavily wooded areas and small fields.

Willis

   I rebuilt a low wall and chambered it in 25-20 for a friend who sold it to another of our friends in the club. He really loves it and shoots steel with it in the winter clang-n-bang matches we hold out to 100 meters. I hated to give it back when I finished with it. Neat little rifle!
  The 25-20 is a great little cartridge and easy to load  with cast or jacket. I never shot one with BP loads so I couldn't say about that though. MD