Hoot to shoot!
That's really the effect I'm after!
When I was a boy of four, my dad took a picture of me in my plastic camo "army guy" helmet holding his kit built .50 caliber muzzleloading pistol across my lap. I remember quite vividlythat this thing was so heavy I could barely pick it up.
Later that year, in the summer (soon after my fifth birthday, in fact) my dad took me out to a sandpit where he did most of his shooting. He samt me on his lap, and haled the gun for me, allowing me to take grip with him and touch the trigger off.
I had a grin on my face for the next month that all of the rain and boredome in the world couldn't wipe off! I was permanently hooked on BIG guns!
In more recent years, I have tried my darndest to remain "reasonable". My first deer gun was a marlin 336C in .30-.30. A more "reasonable" New Hampshire Whitetail gun couldn't be imagined. More recently, I traded in the ol marlin and shelled out some extra cash. My wife has shown an interest in hunting. We've been out in the woods together on several occaisions, and she's always listed aptly when I got overexcited about tracking and stalking whitetails. She's put in more homework than she realizes, and will probably make a rather decent hunter in time. First, I gotta teach her to shoot!
I took her to the Kittery Trading Post, and went through the beginners primer on rifles. Action types, their operation, and some basic pro's and con's. She fell in LOVE with the synthetic NEF handi rifle. She never even got to see the price tag. As a reward for being so patient with her and walking her through dozens of rifles, she said I could get a gun (that day, at that store) too. I bought my Ruger #1B chambered in the same .243 Win as her handi rifle. I figured if I was going to be loading for my own rifle, we may as well share components and dies, as she has no interest in loading for herself.
Thus far, I have firelapped the bore, floated the barrel, and done a bit of tweaking with the quarter rib to eliminate scope movement. Out to 500 or so yards, I can usually maintain groups between 3 and 5 inches, with most (admittadly not all) fliers being shots I call off before checking. I could be wrong, but I think I'm begginning to push this factory built rifle to its limits, and I want to step it up!
Since I'm stepping it up a few notches, I really am less inclined to be so "reasonable" about it this time. Now, I'm not a rich man. Far from it, but I figure, I can afford bits and peices. Very soon, I'll be buying an unchambered barrel blank (for a 32" finished length) in .338. I'll oil that down and put it away somewhere cool and dry, cleaning it out and reoiling occaisionally until I can finish the project. Once I have the barrel, action (I won't settle for less than a borden or bat, or similar for this project)and stock, I will of course need dies. Then I need to save my last payment for gunsmithing, so this project can be a reality!
The more I think about it, the more I am leaning towards the Allen Mag or snipe tac. I've done a bot of background readin, and both sound like superb cart's. I'm not so sure about the neccessity to improve the already huge 408 case for a 338 bore, but hell, if I'm not being quite so "reasonable"...
In the meantime, I hope to be doing some much less expensive research into radically improving barrel life! I have some very promising leads in that direction, but no conclusive evidence yet.
