Back some 25 or likely more years ago I did not like cats just like now. I always destroyed them whenever I encountered them when hunting, or even just loafing about at the farm or in the countryside. Now I didn't shoot them in the barnyard, or off the back step, but they were a goner in the bush. I loved being out of doors, whether snooping along the field paths or seriously looking for a groundhog or crow. I knew where the quail were too and how many rabbits were in the orchard, where the bee trees were for a twig of honey, and where you could get a drink at a flowing seep, or strip off and soak to cool down in the august heat in a deep spot in a shallow stream. Now I used to carry a .25-20 WCF that I cast and loaded for and shoot it off iron sights. I figured it cost as much to shoot as 5 long rifles at the time. All considered each shot cost 15 cents, and I was conservative, you might say tight on a dollar in those days. I had to be. One day I walked out of the woods into a remote pasture and there was a big white cat about 120 yards across on the other side sitting in the shade watching the field. As it saw me it started meandering down the edge and I knelt down, crossed a leg underneath and shot that cat. It disappeared into the brush but it was hit for sure. I continued up my side and slowly wandered another 2 miles roundabout till I ended up back at the truck. Then I thought I would drive back and get that cat to put the body at a good place to attract and maybe ambush a varmint or crows, if I came back again in a few days. As I drove back to the place of the shooting only on the other side of the field, I could see the cat start up flopping a bit but not going anywhere. Not wanting to waste 15 cents I went a bit faster aiming to squash that cat with my front tire. I hit the cats head and a piece of iron something that had fallen of a tractor or combine at the same time. Got the Cat. Ripped a 5-inch gash in the sidewall, ruining the tire. It cost me $58.00 for a new tire. But I had saved 15 cents.

not shooting them on the porch reminds me a a guy I know. This is a long time back. He was just a hi power competitive shooter, not a hunter or the like. Ayway he's driving through the county one day when he sees a crat. The crat runs up to the nearby farmhouse and perches on the front porch. Idiot, stops his car, gets out, opens the trunk, gets him mod 70 3006 target rifle out of the case. Straps himself into the proper standing postion with sling, shooting coat etc, and blasts the crat off the porch. THen, calmly puts everything away in the trunk, gets back in the car and drives away.

I have done deals like that but not with a cat. I made a holster for my 357mag it cost me about $75.00 to save $15.00 on a factory holster. But then I sold the pistol and kept the holster, I did learn more about leathercraft in the process. It is funny on how we try to save and only cost more in the long run.

quote:

Originally posted by butchloc:
not shooting them on the porch reminds me a a guy I know. This is a long time back. He was just a hi power competitive shooter, not a hunter or the like. Ayway he's driving through the county one day when he sees a crat. The crat runs up to the nearby farmhouse and perches on the front porch. Idiot, stops his car, gets out, opens the trunk, gets him mod 70 3006 target rifle out of the case. Straps himself into the proper standing postion with sling, shooting coat etc, and blasts the crat off the porch. THen, calmly puts everything away in the trunk, gets back in the car and drives away.

Sounds like something my cousins dad would have done when he was alive, but alas he went to the big sand pit in the sky.

I save money by hand loading. First I get a gun. Next there is the dies, different powder because there is something wrong with using powder that aces it in one gun for another. I KNOW that because the case has a different shape/rim/diameter/shoulder angle/birthday it's going to take a new powder. And bullets. I know damn well that what works for the .257 ain't gonna cut it for the .250 Savage. Neither will the primers. Forget the .25-20 for the moment, cause it uses lead, and even faster powder, milder primers, and a custom neck die. And moulds. Lubri-sizers, gas checks, and Rooster Red. My paper patch lube won't do, too soft. And a heater for the lube cause it's too hard to flow. You know you're an experienced handloader when you discriminate between BL(C)-2, IMR4895, H335, RX15, Varget, and maybe a few I can't recall. When you can do that you know you're getting maximum efficiency from every kernel of powder, every primer. Yep, then you learn how to anneal your cases so they can last 67 years. Only costs a few pennies a case every now and then.

Lest we forget, you need to load CONCENTRIC ammo too, or it won't shoot straight, so get yourself a runout device from RCBS or Sinclair. And that 11* chamfer. Flash hole uniformer. Dewey rods, Sweets 7.62 and Hoppe's Benchrest solvents too. Somewhere about now you're going to need a new house to store all that crap, so it's a good thing you reload, or you wouldn't be able to save money to buy the house. I figure that it doesn't cost me more than about $237.45 for each round of cast bullet loads that I shoot, $214.12 for the jacketed ammo, and mebbe $42.00 a box for 12 Ga. No hidden charges, not like Wal-Mart. You go in there to buy a box of 30-30 ammo, next thing you know you got yourself two Remmy 700s, a Weatherby and an NEF Handi-Rifle with three barrels. 5 sets of cammo, 12 bottles of stink juice, 40 packs of patches, some for calibers you may not have. That's okay, get 'em because they may stop production, think of the collectable value 15 years from now!

Next, you gotta buy the dies...


Dan

Pres., TYHC

http://www.Vicious.Circles

My Dad really like to fish for and eat large mouth bass. We lived on a lake in Orange County Fl and this was in the late 50s/ early 60s. My Dad had hooked a 10 lb plus bass on a shinner and was pulling it in toward our dock when a small gator grabbed the bass and bite it in half and my Dad was really pissed. He had declared war on snapping turtles for the same thing, but now it was time to deal with the gators too.

Next day, he baited the gator with a possum, the gator came up to investigate the potential dinner and my Dad shot him with a 22 Hornet. He put a rope around the gator's rear leg and took our boat and dragged the gator across the lake to an uninhabited beach and left him to rot.

On the way back to the house he saw another gator and shot him too. Apparently, the gator wasn't quite dead so my Dad chose to run over him with the boat to finish him off. He managed to kill the gator with the boat, but in the process broke the lower unit on an old Scott Atwater 40 hp and he ended up paddling home. Don't know what the repair bill was, but it was substanial and we ended up with an new Merc 45 hp instead. He continued the gatorcide, but used the rifle not the boat anymore.

The old Atwater 40s were a bit weak in the knees anyway. That was a good time to see Florida though.

Back to the storm prep.

Dan

Pres., TYHVC

http://www.CleanWaterN.BucketMouthedBass