A couple of my latest coyotes!

I put down a couple more Northeast Texas coyotes lately and thought I would share the hunts with you guys!

FIRST HUNT!

My brother in law and I decided to go out after it had rained all day Saturday to do some night calling!
I called a couple of the more aware landowners that might get visited to give them a heads up and we set out!
We get to the first spot about the same time as another small storm cloud does and get delayed a bit. However it waits until we get all of our gear unpacked and positioned to dump on us!
So we wait out the rain in the truck and start having second thoughts when a few lightning strikes get a bit to close for comfort!

But after about 15 minutes in the cab we bravely or stupidly jump in the back of the truck to give it a go!
This stands produces nothing but a scavenging skunk!

As we are packing up to make the trip to the next spot I get a phone call from one of the landowners that I had called earlier. He said a coyote was in his front yard and I should come shoot it. Well at best he is 15 minutes away and he said the coyote turned and ran for a thicket when it saw his lights. He has the reputation of shooting when he gets the urge so I am sure this one had probably met him before!! And on top of everything else, he is right on the edge of the city limits! The street he lives on is the line and he is on the city side.
Well I tell him we will run by and I alter our plans to hit one of his fields by his house so we can at the least be seen shinning a light in his yard!
As we approach his place on the city line road we see something dart across the road into his mothers yard, out of the city limits!
I whisper "COYOTE"(like it would hear me) and whip into her drive and try to keep the lights on it. My BIL says "I think it was a deer!". Quickly my guess is confirmed as the coyote pops out of the high grass in the ditch and trots down the treeline.
He starts grabbing my rifle and I almost stop him to say she is gonna jet as soon as I open my door, but for some reason I don't. She leaves the treeline and trots toward the driveway with her nose to the ground. My BIL tries to get the spot light out the window and I guess he makes a noise cause now she bolts!
A quick bark and she slows up to down one last look around! As she starts to slow I attempt to get the cross hairs on her for a quick shot and I can't see a thing! I verify the light is on her with a quick glance up and try to look through the scope again! This is when I realize the scope caps are still closed!
She has now been waiting patiently for a bit too long to be shot and appeared to be turning again as I finally dropped her in her tracks!

I didn't bother weighing her as she was very poor looking as you can see with her "chicken wing" back leg sticking up and she was not very old at all.
Which may explain why I was even able to get a shot at her!

The rest of the night didn't produce anything as we dodge sporadic showers and the occasional lightning!
But over all, it was a good day!

You don't get many targets of opportunities on the couch!

-----------------

SECOND HUNT!

I got a call from a land owner this past Saturday morning who jumped 3 coyotes eating on a cow that must have died last night!
I headed his way and snuck in to the area where the cow was.
There was nothing but vultures and it when I got there so I set up wind a bit under a shade tree.

I started with some high pitched interrogation or locator howls on my MFK diaphragms in hopes to simulate another coyote on their kill!
I then answered myself with a young answer howl on my Primos Turbo Dogg. I did this a few times with a short pause between the two and then stopped and watched the field for a while!
After nothing showed I switched to some challenge howls and again answering myself with Turbo Dogg.
It is getting warm now and I want to make a trip back here in the evening so I decide to head out.

As I stand I make another sweep of the field from the new and improved view and spot something way out there.
It seems a bit small, maybe coon size.
I throw the scope up to get a better look and to my surprise it is a coyote! It is just in some real tall grass and partially concealed. It is following a fence row and cautiously heading my way!
Right about this time the cows see it and charge! They chase it about clear across the pasture from my left to right before they pull up.
As soon as they do they coyote turns back my way. Now at about 200 yards it takes it's time again!
I drop the hammer at about 140 yards.
It was a young male. Maybe last years model!

Thanks for looking!

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A British couple goes shooting for the first time

What a great story, I always get a smile when I hear about stuff like this. Just like the post we had a while back about a bunch of German kids that got the chance to go to the range. Safety infractions up the wazoo, but still a nice thing to hear.

Always a pleasure to hear more folks getting into the hobby of firearms. We need all the ammo (pun intended) we can get to fight back against the gun grabbers.

Great work Theo, keep up the wonderful work . I hope that couple does decide to come the US of A!

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Couple of M1 questions

When cleaning the barrel of an M1 what is the best way to avoid damaging the barrel?
Pull through from muzzle to breech like a bore snake?

Using a 311299 over 34 grains of 4895 a 400 yard setting is pretty well on at 100 yards. Any suggestion as to what setting to use with the same load at 200 yards?

Thanks

You'll go far providin' you ain't burnt alive or scalped."

Will Geer as Bear Claw in "Jeramiah Johnson"

Get a bore guide that fits over the muzzle, and clean from the muzzle. I've been using them since 1982, and never had a problem with wear at the muzzle or damage to a crown.
http://www.fulton-armory.com/cleaningrodmuzzleguidedeweym1.aspx

Also get a GI Garand tool, and use the brush on the chamber regularly.

Don't take it out of the stock unless you absolutely have to, as the wood wears easily, and a stock loose on your rifle is guaranteed to shoot badly.

I've never worked with the settings on Garands, just kept track of clicks. I've never run cast in them either, but that may change soon.

A very quick and FREE bore guide can be made by simply cutting-off the front of any 6.5mm rifle case at about an inch or two in length.

The 6.5 neck slips nicely into the .30-caliber muzzle, and the other end slips equally-nicely over the cleaning rod....BEFORE attaching the bore brush or slotted tip.

Pull-throughs can abrade and wear a muzzle rather badly, and do it in short order as well.

What I do with my M1 is lock the bolt open and put the cleaning rod down the muzzel sans bore brush. Attach the brush to the cleaning rod in the receiver well and pull back through the barrel. This is a little slow but you dont need a guide and you clean from the breach like you are supposed to. Also turn the rifle bolt side down to keep solvent / gunk from filling the gas cylinder via the little hole in the underside of the barrel.

Regards

BruceB is absolutely correct. It is impossible to pull a bore snake through a bore, in either direction, without crown wear, and uneven wear at that.

A rod with a bore guide, and removing the tool before feeding it back, can clean without touching the crown beyond the rifling.

HF

One of the cone type guides work well also as long as it fits the rod also. Cleaning upside down will keep solvent from running into the stock bedding softing wood or bedding agents in the critical areas. A little Hoppes in the gas tube will help to keep carbon down. Just a drop or two is all thats needed. Champions choice La Verge Tennesse had a insert that sat in the chamber with the bolt holding it in place for cleaning. They also sell a rod guide for the garand

A very quick and FREE bore guide can be made by simply cutting-off the front of any 6.5mm rifle case at about an inch or two in length.

The 6.5 neck slips nicely into the .30-caliber muzzle, and the other end slips equally-nicely over the cleaning rod....BEFORE attaching the bore brush or slotted tip.

Pull-throughs can abrade and wear a muzzle rather badly, and do it in short order as well.

+100. "Outside" muzzle guides are not 100% effective, you need something that slips inside the bore and keeps the rod from contacting the crown even if it is misaligned with the bore. John Dewey makes very good one with an O-ring to keep the guide itself from contacting the crown, but Bruce's ad hoc version works almost as well.

For the M1A match rifles, or M14NM, I always used a 32-40 case inside the flash supressor (this was long before Winchester re-introduced the brass). It fits so snugly that I used to swear that the service grade flash supressors were modified to the match configuration with a 32-40 chamber reamer. The 32-40 case was much more effective at preventing crown damage than the typical 12 ga shotgun shell that fit over the outside of the supressor, or the delrin clones of that arrangement that are around these days.

Resp'y,
Bob S

USN Distinguished Marksman No. O-067

It's REAL ... it's wood and steel!

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Abbreviations used in Reloading
Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt"

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Couple of pan lubing questions

Boolit Buddy Join DateFeb 2010LocationCentral ArkansasPosts65

Pan lubed my first batch yesterday and was doing another today. I'm lubing .45 Colt boolits and using an empty .45-70 case to cut them out of the brick of lube.
My question is, how long should I wait before cutting them out?
I'm doing it while it's still pretty warm but think I may need to wait a little longer.
Also, if I decide to push them with a pencil or dowel, should I wait longer than usual?
I tried pushing a few out, and while they popped right out, the grooves would have voids in them that didn't fill with lube.

Thanks

Life is a series of bullseyes and backstraps - Ted Nugent

Boolit Bub Join DateAug 2011Posts24

I wait until the lube is completely cool before punching out the bullets. For those that did not fill the grooves all the way, I'd sit those back in the lube (place them in the holes you punched out), reheat the lube, and do it again. Shouldn't lose much time/effort that way. An ounce of prevention prevents a ton of lead.

Boolit Buddy Join DateFeb 2010LocationCentral ArkansasPosts65

OK. I think that's what I was doing, taking them out too soon.
Thanks.
Also, should I lube all the way to the top, or leave the crimp groove free of lube?

Life is a series of bullseyes and backstraps - Ted Nugent

Using a case to cut them from the brick isn't a bad idea at all, but I personally prefer to simply push them out with my thumbs. Saves some time, and if you do it right, very successful. I use a silicon cake pan, pour my lube, let it harden, (after an hour I'll throw it in the fridge to finish it off quicker), and then push them out. I pick up the whole brick and carefully push them out, base first.

As far as filling them up, all you technically need to do is get the lube groove full. I find I get a better fill out if I top it off a little bit.

Also, with the crimping stage, there's a real easy way to make sure it stays clean! Just keep a rag handy at the bench and wipe the tips down before shoving it into the crimp. Works every time for me.

With 50/50 I find its best to cut them out when the top of the lube is solid and the inside of it is gooey.

Currently loading: .32 Long/Magnum/Auto, .38 Special, 9X19, .357 Magnum, .257 Roberts, .30 WCF, .45-70 Gov't.

Looks like you got a bunch of answers that boil down to whatever works for you, no set rules I use a couple different lubes for pan lubing and find it a pain to find the right temp of the cake to "punch out" the bullets and one of my lubes is too "sticky-gooey" and the lube won't stick in the grooves well. So, I just cut out all my pan lubed bullets. I made "cake cutters" out of stainless steel tubing and honed the ID to a few thousandths over bullet diameter. At about 7" long they are handy and I cut a dowel about 1" longer than the tube, to push the bullets out. Been doing it this way for a few years and haven't found a real need for a lubersizer 'cause I rarely lube much more than 100 bullets at a time...

Boolit Buddy Join DateFeb 2010LocationCentral ArkansasPosts65

haven't found a real need for a lubersizer I haven't either.
For stuff like 9mm and .40, I just tumble lube and size with the Lee push through die.
I'm loading up some .45 Colts for hunting though and am experimenting with different methods. My mold drops them at 0.4525, so sizing isn't an issue with them.
I'm about to start making my own lube. It seems easy enough.

Life is a series of bullseyes and backstraps - Ted Nugent

You may not post new threadsYou may not post repliesYou may not post attachmentsYou may not edit your postsForum Rules

Abbreviations used in Reloading
Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt"

View the original article here