Gary's Gun Notes #152

As I type this we have a few hours left in August and with that comes the knowledge that hunting season is here. Our archery deer and elk are upon us and I haven’t seen much in the way of luck in the last few days. We have a full moon going on and hunting during a full moon is always iffy. Back a hundred years ago when I was living and hunting in Tennessee I learned from an old man who hung around the gun shop I worked at part time.He gave me some advice which amazingly I actually listened to. I normally figure those old goats probably have no idea what they are talking about and we young sprouts usually know it all. But for some unexplained reason I actually listened to him and started doing what he told me and I managed to go for quite a few years deer hunting without coming up empty handed. And now, being an old goat myself, I will pass along that info to your young guys to ignore or use as you feel.

First off, on a full moon deer and elk feed all night. They feed all night and along about daylight or just before they bed down in a heavy thicket. In Tennessee it was always a honey suckle thicket. Along about 11 AM they get up, feed a bit and go to water, then bed back down until after dark, when it starts all over again. I found (by heeding the old man’s advice) that if I scouted a few days ahead of a full moon and found where the deer and elk were watering I could intercept them on their way to water. On a full moon, I never go out early. The odds are against you. Sleep in and about 9:30 or so head out. Get to your ground blind or stand about 10 AM or so and settle in. Along about 11 to 11:30 they start moving to water. That is your absolute best chance at getting your deer or elk during a full moon. In Tennessee at the time I was doing most of my hunting, we had a daily limit of 4 deer a day and there were several times I got 2 deer during that midday timeframe. It works. Try it sometime.

With September 1st upon us, that means we are 1 month away from our next HHC (Handgun Hunting Challenge). It is again in Monterey Tennessee about 90 miles northeast of Nashville. I have 51 people on my list of hunters and will probably end up with 46 or so at the hunt. Usually 3 or 4 will drop out at the last minute due to various problems. Either way the camp will be full. We have had 45 there before and had a great time. The lodge holds 56 hunters comfortably and with 15,000 acres there is plenty of room for all the hunters. Alan Wilson, who owns and runs the hunting preserve keeps a large amount of animals there at all times, from exotic deer and sheep to elk, Nilgai, hundreds of wild boar and feral hogs, lots of the more exotic animals like Red Stag, white Bison, African Watusi bulls, Australian Water buffalo, Yak, American Bison, and much more. And all these animals are not in the same area so all the hunters will not be stepping on each other. One area, called the Canyon, is about 8 miles from the main lodge and as the name implies, consists of deep canyons and steep hillsides. Another area about 5 miles in the other direction is loaded with exotic sheep and exotic deer in a heavily wooded area. In the main area there is about 4000 acres of woods and a very exciting cornfield. That cornfield is planted each spring not to harvest the corn, but to feed the wild roaming animals. It is extremely dense and thick in there and I have taken several hogs in there that were within 3 to 5 feet of me before I could even see them. You have to bull your way thru the thick cornstalks and vines that wrap around the stalks and force you to push your way thru. It is a great and exciting place to hunt. A couple of years ago Kase, Puffy and I were hunting in there and heard rustling ahead of us. Figuring it was a bunch of hogs we eased up as quietly as possible, which is really not possible, and when we finally pushed our way thru the corn to be able to see 5 feet in front of us, we were nose to nose with a whole herd of Water Buffalo. We decided an orderly retreat was best idea at the time.

We have several new guns to premier at the hunt. I showed pictures of a couple of them on my forum over the past few days. One was a new 10mm we call American Justice. It is a 2 toned 1911 with all the fun stuff on it. Another is the new version of our old Rekon Kommander, a commander size 1911 offered in 10mm or 45 ACP. The final one is our new Enforcer. This is a very special longslide that is made even longer with the addition of a long comp. The slide is a 6” longslide and we have added a 2” comp to it for an 8” slide. The prototype is in 45 but will also be made in 10mm. We make several of the parts ourselves including the comp so it can be as long as the customer wants, up to 3”. The gun at first looks front heavy but it isn’t at all. I shot it today and when you throw it up for an offhand shot the weight up front keeps the gun rock steady and with that weight plus the comp the recoil is almost non-existent. I really like this gun and with a 185 grain bullet we have been able to get almost 1500 fps out of a similar longslide without any problems. I imagine with some tinkering with powders we can better that without treading on thin ice. Anyway the new Enforcer should do double duty as a hunting auto, especially in 10mm. I plan on bringing one of each caliber to the HHC and maybe use one on a hog or two.

I also plan on bringing a few other new things to the hunt. Good Lord willing, we will have the new 400 GNR in our Bad Medicine lever action there with ammo for anyone to shoot or hunt with if they like. The new 400 GNR is a simple one to make. Just shoot a 30-30 in the 400 GNR chamber and you have it. The 400 is simply a 30-30 blown out straight with a 40 cal/10mm bullet seated in it. A better way to do it, in my humble opinion, is fill the case up to the neck with a powder like 2400, AA#9 or one of the like speed powders, fill the rest of the case with a rolled up quarter of a square of toilet tissue, and shoot it. It fireforms the case perfectly and doesn’t waste a bullet. http://www.reedercustomguns.net/gnr/custom_rifles/custom_leverguns/badmedicine400gnr.htm

At the last hunt Nate, my main man, used our new 250 GNR on a Russian hog, knocking the hog down with one shot. He used another to finish him off, but it proved that the 250 GNR will be a viable caliber. The new 250 GNR is a 32 H&R necked down to 25 caliber. It works great in a revolver or a Contender. A 75 grain bullet traveling at 2000 fps or more makes a great small to medium game cartridge. And with only a tiny bit of powder required for each round, it becomes economical too. I also plan on bringing the prototype of our new #6 revolver. What is a #6 you ask? Well I thought I would build a gun that if Elmer Keith was alive today, he would be shooting one of these. The gun has the gripframe similar to the #5 but comes in larger calibers, up to 500 Linebaugh and our 510 GNR. I had 100 #6 gripframes made in blue steel and have finished recently the prototype of the series.http://www.reedercustomguns.net/gnr/revolvers/number6.htm

Another new one I am fond of is our new ALASKAN PACKER. It is built on the standard Redhawk and features a full underlug, vent rib barrel, 5 shot cylinder and full Gunfighter grip. The gun is fairly heavy but this holds the recoil down quite a bit in the larger calibers. This one is super smooth and extremely accurate. http://www.reedercustomguns.net/gnr/revolvers/alaskanpacker.htm

Need a Bar-B-Q gun? If so check out our new Outlaw series. It is built on your Vaquero and is one of the nicest series we have ever built.http://www.reedercustomguns.net/gnr/revolvers/outlawclassic.htm.htm

Some of the new guns that have been promised for this fall are beginning to show up. Some that we didn’t know about until a couple of weeks ago are already showing up. The new Ruger Super Blackhawk in 454 and in 480 are actually already here. They are extremely well made guns, which is typical of Ruger. Those guys don’t bring out a gun without a lot of testing ahead of time. What I am really surprised with is that they managed to keep it a secret during all that testing. The guns are 5 shot revolvers with the stronger cylinder and Bisley gripframes. There are a couple of things I would change if I were building them, but I am sure there are several things Ruger would do different if they were building one of our series. A couple of the Misfits are already sending some of the 454s and at least one 480 to us for some cosmetic changes. The Gunfighter grip will be a welcome addition for those that don’t like the recoil and bite of the 454 Casull in a single action. Our interchangeable blade front sight system will be added too as will action jobs and other small things.

A gun that wasn’t promised has supposedly been released in small quantities. It is the Thompson Center G-2, which is the generation 2 Contender. It was discontinued when S&W bought out TC a few years back. This, in my opinion, is the best frame TC has ever come up with. It has the beefy “ribbons” on the sides of the frame like the Encore has and has other interior improvements. I haven’t actually seen any of the new G-2s but have had several friends tell me they have seen one or two. If you shoot a Contender,and have the chance to buy one of the new G-2 frames, jump on it. You won’t regret it.

Howa, one of the finest names in bolt action rifles is adding a new Mini Action rifle to their line up. Howa for years made the Weatherby rifles. They also made the Smith & Wesson rifles and the top end Mossberg Model 1500 rifle. They have added a mini action that is chambered in 204 and 223 and supposedly will be offered in other calibers down the line. I have one on order now in 204 that I hope to re-barrel to one of our Raptor cartridges, preferably the 257 Raptor, which is my favorite of the 3. The Raptor cartridges are the 204 case necked up to 243 in the 240 Raptor, to .257 in the 257 Raptor and to .264 in the 6.5 raptor. The new Mini Action Howa comes with a 10 round magazine which should be perfect for those hunting deer and like bodied animals.

Suppressors are still one of the top selling firearm add-ons these days with the waiting line about 8 months long. With several dozen states now allowing hunting with suppressors that makes them even more desirable. Plus no noise makes it even more popular with the encroachment of communities on the hunting areas. No noise means no complaints. And that is enough reason to buy one. Several companies are now making their firearms suppressor ready with threaded barrels. Quite a few rifles and just about as many handgun manufacturers are offering this to their customers.

Recently a customer brought in a Remington 700 BDL in 7mm Magnum for a muzzle brake. After he left I held the gun for a few minutes and worked the action a few times. I had forgotten how nice the older Remingtons were. This gun was probably made in the early 80s and was smooth as silk. The stock had a few hunting dings (character marks) but overall was probably 90% or better. Unfortunately with all the nylon and plastic stocked rifles these days, finding a rifle with a nice stock is rare unless one looks at the older guns. This one had a dark walnut stock. Not much in the way of figuring but on a magnum rifle figuring is not the way to go anyway. But still, even with a straight grain stock, it was obvious it was a really nice piece of wood. The young people of today just don’t know what they are missing. But unfortunately those of us older than navel lint sure do.

Make a mental note to be watching for John Taffin’s book on small calibers (not sure of the correct name) but hopefully in the spring it may show up. John does a great job on his many books and in this one he has asked 13 people to be guest writers for the book. He has folks like Hamilton Bowen, and Bob Baker lined up to do chapters plus a bunch more. Misfit Scott Boggs is doing a chapter and I feel privileged to be doing a chapter in the book on our small calibers and small caliber series. All this plus 35 or more chapters that John is writing. This should be the book of all books on small bores. We are still a ways off but make a mental note to watch for it next spring or maybe even earlier.

That is it for this month. I will have one more issue just before the next HHC and will have more info for you them. Until then, take a lady or youngster hunting. They are our future.

God bless,
Gary

E-Mail: gary@reedercustomguns.com

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