Its nice and warm here, temperature in Sydney is about 35c (97F) right now.

No snow to shovel and all you need are sunnies, singlet, speedo, shorts and thongs.

Of course, hot days are when the snake, insects and nasties all gone active..
And wabbits.. haw haw haw.. be wevy quiyet, Ima huntin wabbits tomowwow . ..

This is probably gonna sound like a silly question Stovey old mate.....but why a 20g instead of a 12g?

Apart from that, your new little hunny looks real sweet. I'm assuming that the stock etc is real timber....and a damn fine looking piece of wood it is too.

Cheers, Vince

G'day Vince ol' mate!

I prefer the 20ga. It's a great caliber for my hunting needs, which is small upland game. The recoil is nill and, I can shoot clays all day in comorft due to same.
The 12ga. is just too brutal for me and my trashed shoulder in a light upland package and, for clays a nice 12ga with the propper weight for same is beyond my meager budget. Plus, I'm an oddball and like doing things a wee bit different.

Thanks for the compliments as I am very happy with my most recent purchase. This lil' Benelli will add years to my hunting endeavors. It fits, it's light and it's a quailty product that will probably outlast me.

Happy New Year!

Hey gang! Been busy here at work....sorry I aint been around to kibutz much. I'll have a chat with the boss about that.

Weel- bird season is winding down. Got some good hunts in this year too. And to keep busy in the off-season at my local mom-n-pop trap range I got another Baikal. This time in 20ga.

Did some mods like a Tru-lock choke, Graco adjustable butt plate, Pachmayr Trap pad. I left the pad stock as it's like shooting with a pillow, this also added some needed meat to it's bones too and it's 7.75#'s now. Way heavier than the 12ga model of this I sold, that thing was a beast.

This gun shoots really well, is super easy on the shoulder and using 7/8oz #8 loads it crushes 'em pretty good when I do my part. Who needs a 12ga!
I've got less than 300$ wrapped up into it too.
Still need to refinish the stock and forend, even though it looks kinda cool in it's current state as it has patina from sitting in it's box for 5 years before finding a home. These guns come with cool papers from the factory in Russia and I always enjoy reading same etc...kinda neat, at least to me.

I bought a couple of enamel 'red star' pins that have a hammer and sickle on them that were left over from the 'old days' that are .5" tall. Thinking of inlaying them in the pistol grip end for a nice effect.

FINALLY got past 20/25 and this thing is a shooter, go tmy first 21 with it. 25/25 is just around the corner.

Anywho- here it is, the Russian Musket:

Trulock choke, pardon the lint!:

Graco-breako:

Pachmayr pad:

Good Job stovey !!! Not too many guys can say they only got 300 into a trapper with modifications to boot !!!

I am getting an itch for a Savage Predator in .243 with accutrigger.... any input?

Shoot the Accutrigger before buying !!! It seems to be a 50/50 love/hate thing !!!

Chambered is right. One of the guys who work for me loves it. Me...not so much.

Dawgdad:

You have GOT to go look at the Remington Model 7 Predator. I was hesitant when I went to look because I wanted a Savage Predator. But good lord I like it. I really like the X-Mark Pro trigger (but again...some don't). What I REALLY like about it is the super short action. It is shorter than the Model 700 SA and MUCH shorter than Savage's. It has a heavy barrel but is fluted so not as heavy. Barrel is shorter though. And if you followed the thread, I reported EXCELLENT accuracy and shoot-a-bility. One drawback I have found is that the adjustment screw for the trigger is in the upper part of the actual trigger. Mine is adjusted to 3 lbs. At this weight the set screw portrudes from the face of the trigger and can get irritating at the range. I don't notice it when I'm hunting and thinking about other things.

I was looking at a Savage .22 Mag w/ the Accu-trigger... Model 93 something? Laminated stock.

chambered221 wrote:

Good Job stovey !!! Not too many guys can say they only got 300 into a trapper with modifications to boot !!!

Thank you sir.

I goofed cutting the plate the goes on the butt. I forgot to compensate for the toe angle. But, it came ok other than that and I'm happy. It gets some looky-loo's too and boy does it shoot nice. 25 is just around the corner.

Good luck on that 25 Stoves. I only ever got to 21...and that was only in practice.

But I had a damn lot of fun doing it though.

Cheers, Vince

good job stovey. Ive got a 12ga and now a .410 the same breed and they are great. did you port it yourself? I did my old 12 with the black and decker drill it works a treat.