Anybody draw a tag they been waiting years for?

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

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Denali
Posts: 240
Joined: Sat Nov 27, 2004 8:17 pm
Location: Eastern Washington

Re: Anybody draw a tag they been waiting years for?

Post by Denali »

Ironramrod,

Yes it's basically a smooth sided LBT style bullet with about a .30" meplat.

Mike
pete
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Joined: Tue Nov 12, 2002 10:16 pm
Location: Colorado

Re: Anybody draw a tag they been waiting years for?

Post by pete »

Bob I was feeling bad for you and now I'm feeling bad for me :lol:. Just joking of course. I understand what your saying with regard to your elk opportunity. There's no doubt that a modern scoped rifle is a more efficient killer and with that many points at stake it makes sense. I have 18 points for elk and when I draw I'll be inclined to use one of my bp rifles, either my Shiloh or Lonestar but that's just a personal choice and who knows I might change my mind but hell there are hunters with big points and will trust their archery eguipment to do the job when they get their chance. That's not me though.
This spring I got a couple of good photos of a buck and doe antelope eating dirt at a mineral spot that the buffalo had obviously dug out too at Custer State Park. The buck's mouth was full of red dirt and he was trying to clear it out. It was funny to watch.
I just saw a TV show at Sandhills Outfitters for buffalo. Seems like a cool place. Good luck on your endeavors
bobw
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Re: Anybody draw a tag they been waiting years for?

Post by bobw »

Thanks Pete, it is simply not the same for everyone. My 45 2 7/8 and pp loads are good shooters and sometimes I even shoot them real well. Takes good ambient light for one thing,keeping steel gongs inside a big aperature frt sight even to 1000 yds is doable. I can adjust the Hadley Magnum Rear to what I need. I allways know the EXACT range and where you hit steel doesn't matter just that you hit it. My XLR is great for this but totally in the way for hunting so I take it off, I can put a big post in the #111 that is the same height as my penny frt. So then we are down to trying to focus the frt in the rear barrel sight on the animal with 57 year old eyes wearing no line bifocals. They all don't focus together anymore like I was 35. Low light forget it. No matter how much I want to do things, the way I would like too it doesn't change the facts. If you can't confidently make a shot that will insure a 1 shot humane kill ,you need to rethink how you are doing this. Its just that simple and I owe the animals I hunt that.Like anyone else I like big antlers for what they are. I've allways found the bigger the antlers the more meat you get :) This year it's just about representative animals with horns but full freezers. Maybe I want to much but my kid and I eat it the majority of the time. The buffalo and the Shiloh full confidence, the deer and the elk that blend so well into the background early and late leaves me doubting and wondering about my ethics for using it .Just like obeying the game rules and regs I got do this right and ethical to me. It's a decision only the shooter can make. bobw
bobw
Steve crawford
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Re: Anybody draw a tag they been waiting years for?

Post by Steve crawford »

bobw wrote:Thanks Pete, it is simply not the same for everyone. My 45 2 7/8 and pp loads are good shooters and sometimes I even shoot them real well. Takes good ambient light for one thing,keeping steel gongs inside a big aperature frt sight even to 1000 yds is doable. I can adjust the Hadley Magnum Rear to what I need. I allways know the EXACT range and where you hit steel doesn't matter just that you hit it. My XLR is great for this but totally in the way for hunting so I take it off, I can put a big post in the #111 that is the same height as my penny frt. So then we are down to trying to focus the frt in the rear barrel sight on the animal with 57 year old eyes wearing no line bifocals. They all don't focus together anymore like I was 35. Low light forget it. No matter how much I want to do things, the way I would like too it doesn't change the facts. If you can't confidently make a shot that will insure a 1 shot humane kill ,you need to rethink how you are doing this. Its just that simple and I owe the animals I hunt that.Like anyone else I like big antlers for what they are. I've allways found the bigger the antlers the more meat you get :) This year it's just about representative animals with horns but full freezers. Maybe I want to much but my kid and I eat it the majority of the time. The buffalo and the Shiloh full confidence, the deer and the elk that blend so well into the background early and late leaves me doubting and wondering about my ethics for using it .Just like obeying the game rules and regs I got do this right and ethical to me. It's a decision only the shooter can make. bobw
Try some heavy yellow tent bifocals. It sure helps me.

Steve
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bobw
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Joined: Tue Nov 23, 2004 12:52 pm

Re: Anybody draw a tag they been waiting years for?

Post by bobw »

Steve ,thanks for the idea...

Rdnck, thank you ,I took the XLR staff off last nite. I put a .060 post insert in my #111, after I got my B- gun I used a needle file to work out the notch on the semi-buckhorn to .035" so I could have light either side of the post or penny. I need it for definition. The penny I worked into a frt sight is .063" thick. Sundown was at 6:27 tonite but it is overcast and one could not see any sunlight, at 6:35 pm I laid the B-gun on the bags and fired 10 rds until 6:46pm. Range 50 yds to my pistol backstop a 3.75" black rd bullseye target.3 flyers only 1 called ,the other 2 an 1" out of the group.7 shots 1.44" vertical x .47" horizontal, obviously the light & definition gave me the vertical problem. I will remove the #111 and put back in the penny. Only 50 yds but a 3 day weekend in frt of me to shoot and get a handle on it out to 200 yds. Doable but still I am the one who decides whether or not to pull the trigger. These rounds were my left over target loads from the Montana 1000, 546 gr 45 TGBS KAL tool mold at .440" wrapped in Vellum paper to .4495" 105 grs of KIK Fg ,1 -50 alloy , 10 shots one right after another NO wiping No blow tubing, one breath of air from mouth direct in the chamber. 1 st flyer shot #2 2nd flyer shot # 4 and the last one shot #6. 53 Degrees F and 60% humidity 5-7 mph north wind. 6 o'clock hold ,POI 2" high at 50yds. bobw
bobw
Stephen Borud
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Re: Anybody draw a tag they been waiting years for?

Post by Stephen Borud »

Been a slow year for me! Went elk hunting for 9 days with my longbow, to hot and dry! Spent one day with the 44/77 stalking antelope with my son Hunter, shot at a doe that had her left leg blown off, missed her low at 246 yards! So I will be hunting elk with my Sharps this year and I have until the 22nd to kill a antelope doe! We shall see!!!!

Stephen
pete
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Location: Colorado

Re: Anybody draw a tag they been waiting years for?

Post by pete »

Bob;
I hear you on the eyesight issue. One thing that helped me and I dicovered it by accident was to not use the most current eyeglass prescription with barrel sights. I reduced group size significantly by going to an older prescription that was about .25 weaker I think. The reason was that with the newest script the rear sight was not as clear and I got more vertical. The front sight is just as clear and that's the most important part anyway. I know it sounds weird but if you have an older script that's not too weak give it a try it might help you too.
This year I'm going with the little MVA 133 vernier (The one without windage or elevation screw) and shooting at my life size cardboard antelope it really is more precise at 175-200 yds. A friend did some machine work on the staff so it folds forward and I can use the barrel sights too.
So with all the above I probably won't hit anything but dirt :lol:
Marathonman
Posts: 1000
Joined: Thu Oct 24, 2002 6:47 am

Re: Anybody draw a tag they been waiting years for?

Post by Marathonman »

Filled all of my antelope doe tags opening day in Wyoming.

Points of interest:

Vison:
Had catatact surgery with lens replacement 4 years ago. Had laser surgery last week to remove scar tissue build up which should result in my eyes staying as good as they are for a lifetime. My eyes are now 20/10 which is twice as good as normal vision, at least in the optomitist office!! Honestly my eye doctor is jealous of my vision. So, that should lead us to expect vision resolution to not be a factor in hunting.

Rifle:
Custom Shiloh 50-70 that matches an original Sharps sent in January 1872 to the buffalo hunting fields with all of the features found in current relic condition. Rifle is esentially a 50-70 with a 26 inch barrel. Starline brass, 70 grains KIK 2F, 515141 sized to .512 and a WLR primer. Accuracy is good enough for hunting purposes but I wouldn't brag about it after field results test this month.

Antelope:
Was only hunting does this year. Both bucks and does were not hard at all to get withing 200 yards and most opportunities well within 100 yards on opening day. One shot and they're all gone as usual.

Performance on game.
I only shot two does with the 50-70 and both required a follow up shot. Shots showed a clear blood trail from behind the shoulder in the heart lung area but did not place the animal on it's back with legs in the air as with other BP Sharps cartridges. Both antelope with the 50-70 wandered off and when approached later got up and ran with a shot which should have killed them stone dead.

Conculision:
The Sharps 50-70 with a 26 (about) barrel was very hard to sight on targets with the sight radius super sensitive to distance. A longer 30 inch barrel is much more useable in the field. Most shots with the 30 inch barrel can be adjusted by shooter judgement without touching the sights out to 300 yards at least for me. Another major conclusion for me is that the 45-70 with a paper patched bullet is a much more reliable killer and shooter on hunting ranges of today. I like my 50-70 but it is formally banned from my moose hunt this year.

What about the 4 antelope and what were they taken with? 2 were taken with the Sharps and the other 2 were busted with the my .270. I couldn't afford to mess around any more with my wifes surgery and the amount of time I had available.

More to come with my upcoming mooose hunt.

Hope this helps!
I had gotten possession of a big "50" gun early in the fight, and was making considerable noise with it.

~Billy Dixon~

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rdnck
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Re: Anybody draw a tag they been waiting years for?

Post by rdnck »

marathonman--Congratulations on your antelope. Also, that is a very good report on the 26 inch barreled 50-70. There is a lot of information in that post for those who are astute enough to study it. Shoot straight, rdnck.
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Stephen Borud
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Re: Anybody draw a tag they been waiting years for?

Post by Stephen Borud »

Marathonman,

Where did you hit the antelope with your first shots? One lung, double lung, obviously not the heart! How did the exit holes look compared to the 45? If the 50 had the same bullet design would it perform the same as the 45?

Thanks
Stephen
bobw
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Re: Anybody draw a tag they been waiting years for?

Post by bobw »

Marathonman you did well anyway. If you would of asked a canadian on using the 50-70 maybe he would of told you it was great but carry your own club. I don't know, maybe that is why the Lyman folks brought out the 515142 mold with its larger meplat maybe its a better killer,just a thought. What again was your alloy? Congrats anyway you were the one in the arena. bobw
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Marathonman
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Re: Anybody draw a tag they been waiting years for?

Post by Marathonman »

Stephen, both does were hit just behind the front shoulder broadside. They hardly reacted to the shot at all. One had an angle to the exit wound at mid body which I didn't notice in the sight picture. I had a similar mystery wound channel on a doe last year. Both were lung shots but to be honest I didn't really look that close to see if they were both double lung or not. You're correct they were not heart shots though and one of them was close to being a heart shot. Exit wounds were typical black powder and not noticeably different from the 45-70 paper patch from last year. The lack of reaction to the shot was what was most noticeable to me as a difference.
I had gotten possession of a big "50" gun early in the fight, and was making considerable noise with it.

~Billy Dixon~

Adobe Walls 1874
Marathonman
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Joined: Thu Oct 24, 2002 6:47 am

Re: Anybody draw a tag they been waiting years for?

Post by Marathonman »

bobw wrote:Marathonman you did well anyway. If you would of asked a canadian on using the 50-70 maybe he would of told you it was great but carry your own club. I don't know, maybe that is why the Lyman folks brought out the 515142 mold with its larger meplat maybe its a better killer,just a thought. What again was your alloy? Congrats anyway you were the one in the arena. bobw
Thanks Bob, I don't know the exact alloy but they are soft enough to scratch with my thumbnail.
I had gotten possession of a big "50" gun early in the fight, and was making considerable noise with it.

~Billy Dixon~

Adobe Walls 1874
Stephen Borud
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Re: Anybody draw a tag they been waiting years for?

Post by Stephen Borud »

Marathonman wrote:Stephen, both does were hit just behind the front shoulder broadside. They hardly reacted to the shot at all. One had an angle to the exit wound at mid body which I didn't notice in the sight picture. I had a similar mystery wound channel on a doe last year. Both were lung shots but to be honest I didn't really look that close to see if they were both double lung or not. You're correct they were not heart shots though and one of them was close to being a heart shot. Exit wounds were typical black powder and not noticeably different from the 45-70 paper patch from last year. The lack of reaction to the shot was what was most noticeable to me as a difference.
Marathonman,

The first antelope doe I shot with a Sharps had no reaction as well! In fact I thought I missed her! I walked up to where I shot her and found a little bit if hair but no blood! I then walked over the hill about 60 yards and there she lay! Double lung shot! I was shooting my Dads 45 2 1/10th, 70 grains of Fg and a 490 grain Old West bullet at .440 o.d. Patched with 9 lbs onion skin paper!

Two weeks later I killed a 5 x 5 whitetail buck with the same gun and load, he went down hard!

Stephen

P.S. Good luck on your moose hunt!
pete
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Location: Colorado

Re: Anybody draw a tag they been waiting years for?

Post by pete »

Marathonman;
Man you're an antelope machine. A good informative post but that's surprising about the 50's performance I wouldn't have thought that. As you know a lot of buffalo and I'm sure a lot of antelope were killed with it in it's heyday. Do you know what velocity you were getting? If you did it again would you go with the longer barrel?
We went out this weekend but it was foggy, rainy, snowy so we went out late and came home early....... in fact I never took the rifle out of the truck to hunt. The rancher was impresssed with my Shiloh and that somebody would use one instead of the usual scoped rifle. We're going back out Wednesday thru Friday. As you know Colorado doesn't have the antelope density of Wyoming but there are alot more people so it's far from a certain thing with a bp gun.

Stephen;
That sucks about that doe. You've still got possibilities and the elk story with a Sharps will be better anyway. :) Are using your 44-77 for both antelope and elk?
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