Wildcat,
I am going to try to stay as respectable as I possibly can with this reply. We have had out past dealings, water under the bridge in my opinion.
I do not mind being questioned by anyone because I have never stated anything on this board that is not based in practical real world testing on my part or from data I have studied from reputable parties. So healthy debate is always a good thing.
Offering information about as many quality smiths as we possibly can is also a very good thing. We can not have to many good smiths or offer their names to many times. That is how we as rifle builders make out living, word of mouth. I rely on that 100% for my advertisements.
To that end, I hold my potential customers in very high requards. I hold my current and past customers to an even higher level of personal respect. There have been a very small handful of people out there that have really been tight with me in the development and testing of the Allen Magnum wildcat rounds. The list is so short that I would like to list them now to give them the attention they deserve, in fact they deserve much more then this.
First and formost is my good personal friend Richard Graves. He has been with me from the time before the Allen Magnums were even an idea. He has always bent over backwards to offer me what I need to make my wildcats what they really are today. The man would do anything for me and my family and I would return the priviledge any minute of any day. I look at him as family far more then a friend. Richard has by far been the largest supporter of me and my wildcats with the joint partnership we have had with these adventures. More so then any business venture, he is my friend.
There are also three "civilians" if you will that have also helped me greatly in getting the Allen Magnums up and running.
Two of which are known on here by the call signs Lerch and Bill Bailey. They took a chance and ordered the first two 270 Allen Magnums that were sent to customers and did nearly as much testing, shooting and promoting of the 270 Allen Magnums as I did. I see those two as responsible for the huge success of the 270 AM because they gave it credibility with a third party opinion and offered great reports with detailed data and results which resulted in many more customers joining the Allen Magnum family of users. They really brought the 270 AM out in front of alot of people and get it started.
I can not count the times that these two have come to defend not only the AM chamberings and Wildcat Bullets but also just to back me up personally. That is what friends do and I have two very good friends in the Okie state. In fact, I can not wait until next spring to go down and do some exotic hunting with them.
Finally, the man that has helped me from the start of the 7mm AM project. He is none other then SS7mm. I know him as Dick and see him as more of a true friend then a customer.
He helped with the original set up cost for the 7mm AM when it was only an idea on paper and I did not have the funds to get set up on my own. He helped out with his own $$$$.
He also took possesion of the very first 7mm AM sent to a customer which was reported about here on LRH. He has offered alot of loading data and ballistic data for this round and the 200 gr ULD RBBT. All freely to anyone that was interested.
He has also weathered some storms with me concerning the 7mm AM and dealing with growing pains associated with bring such an extreme performance round into true long term reliable functioning status, not just a crazy idea.
His rifle has been sent back several times for new barrels to be fitted because original barrel designs proved incompatable with the 200 gr ULD RBBT. Even secondary barrel designs recommended by another smith proved even worse with these bullets. Third time was the charm and we designed the barrel specs that we wanted and had them built specifically for our purpose and requirements.
All the while, Dick never once gave up on the idea of the 7mm AM. Never one did he bitch about the delays or problems we were seeing, that was over an 18 month time span at least. Never once did he say anything but that the 7mm AM is the most impressive round he had ever used in the field and he did not want anything other then that round and he wanted to be a part of the headaches to figure out these problems and get the round up and running to its full potential because he believed in what I wanted to do and he understood that we could do it if we got the correct componants.
Never once did Dick say, maybe you should just build me a 7mm RUM and we will be done with this mess because that would have been ALOT easier for him and I would have done it in a second on my dime, but that never happened.
Instead, he offered to help fund some of the original set up costs. Then when we were testing new barrel designs, I told him I would cover all costs including barrel and machining costs. Then a check shows up in the mail to cover the cost of the new barrel price.............
How many people would do that when they were just told that there would be no charge at all.
Dick has experienced the extreme excitement using a round like this will give you knowing that anything within 2000 yards is in serious trouble in his rifle. Then he has experienced the severe frustration when the original plan stops working as it did in the beginning. Not only once but twice he did this.
Never once blinking in his unfailing support of me, of Richard Graves and of the 7mm Allen Magnum.
Now I am not one to get real ****ed when someone comes after me. I will stand my ground and debate anyone and I seldom get fired up when I get attached personally.......
BUT!!!
When someone that has no idea about the man they are talking about throws out totally uneducated childish comments such as "SS7mm is a Window Warrior" I get pretty ****ed off.
Dick has experienced more in his life then you my friend probably ever will. Just in development of the 7mm AM alone, he has done more legit ballistic testing and load development then most will ever do in a lifetime. To say he just sits behind the **** computer and has no real world experience or that if you met him in real life he would back down from the likes of you are so laughable that your hardly worth replying to.
Dick has been in my shop, I have met the man face to face, I have shaken his hand, I have looked in his eyes and I know that he is 100% real to what he says and believes. I also know for a fact that you would not back him down in a bar. I also know that he has more dignity then most anyone else I have ever known.
So for you to disrespect him in this way, well, it only shows why you are getting the replies you are. You disrespect people at the drop of a hat. Most of the time, it is people that are trying to help you out and simply offer you legit real world experience and for that you start calling them names or referring to them as weak trying to break them down.
Talk about a window warrior to use your own words.
Again, your own words prove the person you are. Funny thing about the web, people can hide who they are for a while but the more then talk, especially when they are emotionally charged up, the true colors come out and in your case, I see nothing but a very insecure person who will go into personal attachs anytime you are questioned on some topic, even if they offer solid data against what you believe of think you believe.
Again, you can think of me what you want, I could care less.
But to say that Dick(SS7mm) is a WINDOW WARRIOR is flat out insulting not only to him but this entire group of people as Dick has freely offered any information he can to anyone that asks. He does not chime in just to test which way the breeze is going. He has a solid knowledge base, a solid experience base from DOING, not from talking or hearing about it from someone else that has done it.
Dick researches a project, decides in his mind if it is worth his time and investment and then commits one way or another, not being influenced by every opinion that may be out there. He makes up his mind, HE DOES IT, and then accepts the risks that may and do happen.
This is simply my opinion of you, you are not man enough to call Dick what you have and all your doing is being a Window Warrior yourself.
Again, keep talking because all that read you long enough will certainly learn who you truely are. Like I said, when you start with the childish comments like you seem to always fall back on, you loose credibility in your debate, no matter if your point is valid of not.
Anyway, you are truely a waste of time but just wanted to state the facts about Dick because Wildcat here has not a clue in the world what he is talking about when he addresses Dick in any way.
For the rest of my customers, I hold them in very high respect as well, again, all my customers are friends to me. I just have a very tight nit group of people that have helped me out a great deal and when those people get attached by someone like Jake Hogue, I get a bit upset and want to set the record straight on the character of a fine man such as Dick.
Kirby Allen(50)
