A hunting Shiloh

Share your tales (tall or otherwise) of hunting adventures.

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Darryl
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Joined: Tue Sep 16, 2008 1:00 pm
Location: Katy, Texas

A hunting Shiloh

Post by Darryl »

I just can't get over the beauty of this rifle. When it comes to hunting with it, it just carries so well, and is perfectly balanced.

I remember in a post I read a long time ago, somebody asked what the best hunting Shiloh would be (for all around purposes).

RDNCK answered something like, 'A business rifle in 45/70 with a shotgun butt plate.'

It carries like a dream and its a shooter alright. I dressed it up to the max (instead of keeping it like the originals were made) because I wanted a show off gun to carry in the field with me for the remainder of my hunting life. I'm 40 now. If God blesses me with another 40 years - this gun will see daylight in the field each and every year.

I'll never sell it - it will become somebody's only when I'm gone.
Life on earth is simply too short to hunt with an ugly gun:

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whoop-up country
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Post by whoop-up country »

EXTREMELY Nice rifle Darryl! :shock:
Is that extra fancy wood, or presentation grade?
The only thing I have against taking the really nice looking rifles banging around in the woods, is scratching and denting them up.
But it sure looks nice.
I was thinking of a Business rifle with a shotgun butt, and now I have seen one.
I would get the plain wood on mine for hunting.
Bob.
Darryl
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Location: Katy, Texas

Post by Darryl »

Extra fancy hand select (I asked for dark wood with stripes)
mdeland
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Post by mdeland »

Actually I much prefer a beautifully crafted and wooded arm with a few dings, scratches and some blue wore off the corners, other wise it looks like a "dude rifle" that no one ever used. :D MD
rdnck
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Nope

Post by rdnck »

This is a long way from being a dude rifle. Darryl uses it. A lot. rdnck.
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Darryl
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Location: Katy, Texas

Post by Darryl »

Yes sir I do!

So much in fact, that it does have some scratches, nicks, and dings on it - but that's honest character on a hunting rifle.

I gotta show off my sidearms that I carry with it:

The one on top is a .454 Casull (I seldom carry full house loads in it - the 250 grain XTP at 1300 fps punches holes all day long at 25 yards, and I can easily keep all of them inside of a 6" circle at 50 using a rest with open sights only).

The peach on the bottom with the black micarta grips is my newer .44 magnum. I opted for the factory action job on that gun, and believe me when I say - that gun is NICE.

Both guns lock up like a bank vault, and shoot outstanding as expected. Both also have custom holsters made by Bob Mernickle.

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Eric Johanen
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Post by Eric Johanen »

Beautiful rifle Darryl!! Life is too short to hunt with a ugly rifle. I was very lucky to make friends with a great gunmaker many years ago and he does all my major firearms work, would not even consider going to someone else. He has told me "if you break it I can fix it so don't worry about it and just use those firearms." I have and he has repaired some pretty severe damage that is impossible to see unless you know where the wood chips were before he worked the magic. This includes high end custom muzzle loaders and high grade English shotguns. Find a gunmaker and buy him really good whisky. Make a friend for life and use those real nice guns.
pete
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Post by pete »

She is a very pretty rifle and it's nice that she lies on the couch and watches tv with you. That's a beautiful thing. :)

Dings happen on hunting rifles but it still bums me out. You can only be so careful though.
Stephen Borud
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Post by Stephen Borud »

Nice rifle Darryl. I can remember every nick I put in my Hartford crawling across the sage flats hunting antelope and deer. You can tell the difference between normal wear on a rifle and a rifle thats been abused, there is a BIG difference. Keep killing, and like Pete said it's o.k. to pamper the girl by letting her watch T.V. with you, I'm sure she likes the hunting channel. :D

Stephen Borud
Wyoming Roughrider
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Post by Wyoming Roughrider »

She is a beauty. I started carrying a Shiloh Saddle Rifle couple years ago. I ordered standard wood but she turned out prettier than most rifles that you see in elk camp. Funny the looks you get from a lot of folks when you pull out a single shot with iron sights.

Roger Torgersen
mdeland
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Post by mdeland »

Hard to beat Freedom Arms for quality. I have a friend that has owned over 50 of them. He buys one he likes, works up the best loads, shoots it for awhile and trades it off for another one and different configuration. He told me some years ago now that he has owned three that were honest minute of angle revolvers at 100 yards.
Dennis is one of the best bench rest pistols shots I have ever seen. MD
Brent
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Post by Brent »

Wyoming Roughrider wrote:Funny the looks you get from a lot of folks when you pull out a single shot with iron sights.
No kidding! But never once will one of them screw up enough courage to actually ask what it is, or even make a simple comment.

Occasionally, I get to re-encounter one of them while packing out meat. The get even more puzzled.
Just straddling the hard line between "the arrogance of dogmatism and the despair of skepticism"
mdeland
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Post by mdeland »

I wasn't meaning to imply that the fine rifle in the picture didn't have any character wear. Just saying that it enhances an already beautiful gun in my opinion and adds to the appeal of the arm.
I would be hesitant to take a fine piece like that Sharps on a sheep hunt though. I've never seen a rifle come back from a sheep or goat hunt looking pristine. They really take a beating from weather and rock. Synthetics, while ugly in the extreme, really come into their own on these ventures. MD
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whoop-up country
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Post by whoop-up country »

I think the extra money spent for hand selected wood is well worth it. I had hand selected wood on my extra fancy, and it was super nice also. :)
You will certainly have one of the best looking rifles in the hunting fields, and as it gives you great enjoyment using it, that is all that matters. It will still look good after years of wear.
What load are you using in it, and what results are you getting?
Bob.
Darryl
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Joined: Tue Sep 16, 2008 1:00 pm
Location: Katy, Texas

Post by Darryl »

Its the 28" tapered round barrel that comes standard on the business rifle. I opted for the polished finish.

The Load I use in it is:

A custom bullet from a mould that I drew and had Brooks cut for me. It drops a 525 Grain bullet in 30/1 which is 1.300" long, 4 grease grooves, and a meplat of .310". I specified a nose diameter of .443" to enable easy chambering into an already fouled barrel (for hunting as I found I was typically needing to do). As a result of the smaller nose diameter, I kept nose length relatively short at .510".

70.0 Grains of Goex Express 2F slow dropped to a settled height below the case mouth of .410", then compressed a total of .368" which is beneath a Walters .062" wad, two paper wads of .003" each and .710" of bullet shank inside the case.

Fed 215 Primer
SPG Lube
Starline Brass

Not a fly buster load - but I can shoot 1.5-2.0" 5 shot groups at 100 yards pretty consistently with the barrel sights, sometimes I get lucky and shoot even tighter on my 'better shooting days'.

Bottom line is:
for hunting, where the majority of the shots that I actually take fall anywhere between 30 - 150 yards yards, I'm good as gold. I've taken a few animals between 150 - 200 with this setup, but with the way I hunt off of the ground, I usually do not encounter shots beyond 150 very often.

I entirely prefer to hunt with the barrel sights that these guns come, using a copper penny front.

Since I've learned my holds with this setup out to 200 yards, I can kill as easily as anyone with a scoped rifle could within those distances.

YMMV
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