The Serenity Prayer. I have it framed next to my bed and try to make a point to read it every AM to start my day. Sometimes I have to recite it several times during the day lol.
Ramblings and Such From Hunting Coyote
- Thread starter DSheetz
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lyle2231; an M-44 is a spring-loaded device, with a plunger that when compressed has a trigger that holds the plunger in place until it is pulled upward, you have a tube stake that is driven in the ground that this is placed in and a ring that is turned over a slot to keep in in the tube. then a top that hold a plastic cartridge of sodium cyanide, measured to not kill an animal larger than 110 lbs., is screwed on the plunger unit. the top is wrapped with an absorbent material so that it will hold a paste bait on it to attract predators. That is just a simple explanation. There are at least 25 federal restrictions, it used to be 26 but they dropped the one about the antidote kit, on their placement and usage the person placing them also has to be certified in their usage and an inspector will check you and your placed units, without prior notification to you. The color of the dye is red for federal employs and fluorescent green or yellowish for non-government persons, it has the dye in it due to the Tylenol poisonings. I will see if I can post a picture of one.
BigDon; there is no explosive in an M-44 they are spring loaded the old humane coyote getter had a 38-caliber cartridge with just enough powder to cover the primer than cyanide and wax placed on top of that to seal it from moisture. Their use has been banned, they were manufactured in Colorado and were found to be considered an unlicensed firearm.
This is an M-44, on the left is the stake sign to be placed within 10 feet of the device, next is the plastic capsule that contains the sodium cyanide, the capsule holder, below that is the spring loaded ejector unit then the tube or stake on the right is the gate sign that is to used at all entry points where the units are placed and in a visible manor. All applicators will be inspected at least once a year, without prior notice, all devices in place will be checked by the inspectors. all devices will have at least two people who know where they are placed so that if the applicator who placed them has something happen to them and isn't able to remove the devices, they can then be removed by the other person. Before I retired from it all of mine were on a satellite map marked with GPS quadrants. On the bottom is a picture of one in place but note that the spring-loaded plunger is showing in the top of the capsule holder so that it not an active one. Normally when one has been pulled you will have teeth marks in the wrapping, the seal for the top will be on the ground beside the unit and the dye color will be present on the top and ground. The size of the teeth marks tell you the type of animal that pulled it. As with any other tool they have a learning curve, and some people are very proficient and very professional with their usage.
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I appreciate the clarification. I just didn't want to leave him hanging and wondering.
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There's actually no explosive charge. It's a spring loaded launcher that uses plastic capsules of sodium cyanide. The capsules rupture as they are launched directly into the varmint's mouth. Death is within second's.
By law, there have to be high-visibility warning signs placed at the entrance to every property where they are placed and a minimum of two other high visibility warning signs placed within 15 feet of each and every launcher. They are strictly accounted for and have a very short time frame between checks by the trapper.
Ed
It is good to help people to understand what they are and how they are used. Below is an old-style humane coyote getter that did in fact use a 38-caliber cartridge with a small powder charge and primer to propel sodium cyanide into the mouth of a predator that pulled up on them with their mouth over the top of them. The, fired 38 cartridge at the left, the cartridge holder, the firing unit that is spring loaded, has a firing pin and triggering device, then the tube or stake that holds it in the ground. That is how so many people think that there still a live cartridge in the newer style M-44. They used to scare the he09 out of me to pick them up when it was time to if they hadn't been pulled. You always knelt down beside of them with a leather glove on, extended your arm and turned your hand so it was with the back to you pushed downward on the unit then unscrewed the top, letting it drop-off onto the ground just in case an animal had pulled on it a little bit and hadn't fired it. Yes I did have a few go off while doing this and it scared the be jeepers out of me, putting it mildly. When an animal pulled them they would be scared and run as hard as they could from the sight. You would stand at the set and look in a 360-degree circle to see if you could locate the animal, sometimes they would be a couple of hundred yards away, then you started walking increasing circles from them or till you spotted the eagles eating the animal. By the way there is no secondary poisoning from the sodium cyanide, as the cyanide gases off when exposed to moisture. The way I set and picked them up as a kid carried over to my adult life and the use of safer M-44's. As with any tools we have there will be people that think they shouldn't be used. There will be people that shouldn't be allowed to have and use them and people that do good by using them and then there will be those that are very professional and do exceptional work with them.
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When I retired from using M-44's each unit would cost you 25 dollars, I gave mine to my replacement. There were some people that shouldn't have any of them, I was out one day and saw one laying in the two-track road I was driving on. I stopped and picked it up, it had been pulled and had an empty capsule still in the holder on the side of it was U.S. Government in raised letters. I called the government guy he got a little indignant with me, so I took the capsule out of it drive a stake in the ground and buried the used capsule, took the unit home and put in my safe box in the garage. A month later I caught a big male coyote in a snare, beside him on the ground was an M- 44 I picked it up it had tooth marks on it but hadn't been pulled, I took the top off and it had red dye in the capsule as well as U.S. Government in raised letters. I buried the capsule the same as the last one, I called the government guy again. He got a little mouthy, so I did the same thing with this one as the last one. A few days later he called me and asked me if I had been picking up his M-44's from his sets and leaving the tubes in the ground, and how many of them I had of his. I told him no I hadn't been messing with his sets, I had no need to I had my own stuff. I told him that I only had the two that I had told him about. After he calmed down and asked me to ride along with him, I discovered what was going on with his sets. I had trained him in their use and where to place them before he was out on his own, he would always ask me why they pull yours and not mine we use the same bait. I would tell him look at my choice of placement and how I set them compared to yours. As we were making his rounds I looked his M-44's over and noticed that most of his didn't have the rings on the stakes turned to keep them in the stakes. I don't know how many he lost or how he explained it, but I suspect he didn't tell the real story to the area manager. Several years after he transferred from the area one of the ranchers told me of finding one of his still in the field and then the state agriculture guy was telling me that one of the guys came out of a restaurant and his box of M-44's and capsules had been taken from his truck. I used 50 caliber metal ammo box's that I welded a hasp on and machined a slot for them to be locked, one for the tops that were used, one for clean tops and ejector units and one for the capsules all locked with keyed alike locks, the red one with the capsules had the poison signs on it, the blue one with clean equipment and the OD green was for used things needing cleaned. Yes, I am OCD!
I ordered a new sear, disconnector and sear spring for my 9mm 1911. As it is it breaks at 3.5 to 4 pounds, I want it to break at the same weight every time not have a half pound difference at times. In my way of thinking with a pistol, especially one that is an everyday carry, the more consistent it is the more accurate it will be. I want small groups at 20 feet so I can get to my long gun if needed.
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Who made the new parts? Is it a series 70 or series 80 1911?
Having been through the Colt Armorers School, I learned that the parts you mentioned as well as the hammer are very sensitive to "tolerance stack" and that in itself can cause erratic trigger pull weights.
Undersized pins and oversized holes allow parts to "wander" and engage and disengage at slightly different angles, some having less drag and some having more, causing the various pull weights. They also allow minute debris to float in and out of the holes causing variations.
The 1911's are my favorite platforms and I have two that I built and carried for the majority of my LE career.
Ed
It's a series 80 the new parts are from Wilson Combat. I probably should have ordered the pins as well as the hammer, they will be next on my list. I am a fan of the 1911's as well they are complex yet simple and durable. The closest I got to going to armors school was a day spent with a chief gunner's mate in 1973 and the Colt we did was who knows how old and had an unknown number of rounds through it, probably from WW2. I can see where they would be prone to tolerance stack. Thank You for the information I might be getting older with each passing day, but I can and do still learn every day, that's my goal anyway.
lyle2231
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Thanks for your reply. Lyle
Remember I said there were 2 yesterday? Well the one that got away yesterday came back today and I was waiting. Also a female. I have to say this is the first time I've got 2 females that were running together. Had several male pairs and of course one each but a first for me. Both look about the same age and size to me.
