Elvis wrote:

Whiltshires are woolless mate lol.

Can’t say I’ve ever seen a Wiltshire sheep mate. Border Leisters are a bit of a rare breed out here now and the coloured sheep (black and white or all black)are basically pets or used in the Children’s Farms where they have all juvenile critters for city kids to feed and interact with. The sheep I’ve had most contact with are Merino. My Uncle had 6000 acres outside of Wagga Wagga in NSW and he ran a massive flock of Merinos, mainly for wool and a bit of meat when needed. When I visited him I used to work in the shearing shed picking up ‘pieces’ and sweeping from the floor the ‘dags’ and dropped nads after the elasterator had done its job. Would also help pressing the bales.

“Bushy” wrote:

Again with the sheep?

Yep…we Aussies and our brother KIWIs like to take the p1ss outa one another, but we will always have one another’s back…hence the term ANZAC coined during WWI at Gallipoli in Turkey. German commander Erwin Rommel in WWII is credited with saying, Australians are for "taking" ground and New Zealanders for "holding" ground as a testament to their historical military reputation, particularly their skill in offensive manoeuvres and defensive resilience, respectively.

As an aside, Australia and NZ are known for our work with sheep, in fact many years ago a saying was coined in Australia…”Home on the Sheep's back”…mainly because of our wool industry, and to a lesser extent, meat. Australia also has a pretty good beef industry and in fact exported a lot of our beef to the US, but Trump’s tariffs are not doing either side any favours.

I bought some T-Bone lamb chops not long ago at Costco. They were imported from Australia. My old man loved a year old and grained wether lamb for the freezer. Grew up eating more of that than beef.

It was mighty good and brought back memories.

-DallanC

I decided to cover up the horrible grey “Tupperware”stock with Mossy Oak film before (of course ) I had decided to look at trading it on a Howa. I must admit it does look much better, but underneath the film it’s still the same rifle.

I removed the scope and the bipod, and I’ll be looking at going to the gunshop one day this week to see if I can afford the Howa after they give me a price on a trade. Not sure whether to go with a walnut stock or a synthetic. I must admit I do like the look and feel of a timber stock, but a synthetic stock is better in the field on the off chance it gets knocked around…and it works out a bit cheaper. I’ll probably look at putting a Mossy Oak film on a synthetic stock if I choose to go that route, although I’m unsure about doing the barrel. I wish I could get the Mossy Oak rifle kit out here, it comes in pre-cut sections for a rifle, whereas I bought a sheet of the film off Amazon that I had to measure and cut myself to do the Stevens.

DallanC wrote:

I bought some T-Bone lamb chops not long ago at Costco. They were imported from Australia. My old man loved a year old and grained wether lamb for the freezer. Grew up eating more of that than beef. It was mighty good and brought back memories. -DallanC

I’m rather partial to lamb cutlets, rack of lamb and especially a roast leg of lamb. I like to cook the roast in a Camp Oven (Dutch Oven). Cooked with Rosemary and Garlic and when carved and on the plate, drizzled with Mint Sauce.

That stock turned out very nice!

-DallanC

DallanC wrote:

That stock turned out very nice! -DallanC

I agree.

Love Lamb chops, rack of lamb and roasted leg of lamb. Mint sauce all thye way!

See recipe section for "uncle George chops"....2x 2 week old lambs are now in our backyard to be bottle fed for next month before heading off to live in friends wee paddock. One of last year's whiltshires( they shed all Thier wool) will be getting lead disprin and heading for freezer.... Right back to rifles lol. Looking at your Camo job Vince,I would be scared to put it down....wouldn't find it again lol.

Vince, it might have been better in bright orange...
easier to recover when it's lost...

I happen to know Mr. Murphy and his laws... and for man who forgets to take his bolts...

Aloysius wrote:

Vince, it might have been better in bright orange... easier to recover when it's lost... I happen to know Mr. Murphy and his laws... and for man who forgets to take his bolts...

Good thought Aloys, but I’m not sure blaze orange is the colour for a rifle.

Bolts …oh yeah, most important . I don’t think I’m ever going to live that mistake down.

Elvis wrote:

… Looking at your Camo job Vince,I would be scared to put it down....wouldn't find it again lol.

I might have to put an Apple AirTag inside the butt so I can find it again.

Well, I had a long thought yesterday afternoon, checked on how much I’ve saved up to put towards a new rifle and thought about life in general. I had a chat with my shooting buddy, mentioned I was looking at a new rifle and his thoughts were quite simple…said I’m crazy, especially seeing as how I’d developed a load that shoots sub MOA from the Stevens. He then asked me how much accuracy I really needed considering the Stevens is a hunting rifle. I put quite a bit of thought into that and decided that sub MOA at 100m is as much accuracy as I’ll ever need.

Sooo…I have a couple of pressing bills that I really should pay, consequently commonsense won out. I have to pay these bills, leaving me with less money (and hopes for a higher trade-in) and the Stevens is as accurate as I really need. So as disappointed as I am, I’ve decided to give the idea of a new rifle a miss and save my money for a bit longer and maybe look at a better scope, or something else, down the track a ways. SWMBO is happier about this as well.

I really must thank each and every one of you that assisted with advise and suggestions as I refit the Bushnell scope to the Stevens and get ready to rezero and do a little more load development…not to mention get some recoil therapy.

Thats really good. I have several rifles that won't come close to that.

-DallanC

Really, all I look forward to is shooting Minute of Critter. The kill zone on the average deer is approximately eight inches high by four inches wide (for a heart/lung shot), but significantly smaller for a head shot. So I reckon the Stevens is more than accurate enough to achieve these goals.

I’ve refitted the Bushnell scope on the rifle, so now I have to do some reloading and get out to the range to re-zero things. I just hope I haven’t upset the “works and jerks” when preparing the rifle to see about a trade-in.

The AR2208 (Varget) load looks to be the best, but the AR2206H (H4895) load is as good, so it comes down to which powder I have more of and is readily replaceable.

Yea... anything "minute of deer" rings more true every year lol!

My state has forced us back to 1x scopes on our Muzzleloaders. Freaking crosshair covers about all the vitals at 100 yards. There's no more aiming for a heart, its halfway up and split the distance from center of mass to brisket.

Our deer season started yesterday, my son shot his about 15 minutes into shooting hours from a distance of 20 yards away when it stepped out from behind a tree (I got to watch him from a ridge about 600 yards above him, it was cool). We brought it out and got it cut up and in freezer, went back up that evening and we found another buck 300 yards from where he killed his... my eyes really have gone down hill in a year. At 160 yards I just could not see well enough to shoot... I hurried and closed the gap to 94 yrds and center punched him right through the lungs. We got him hauled out, and back to the house by midnight... really long day as we'd gotten up at 5am that morning for the opener.


-DallanC