I Hate Coyotes

[BadDog]

I'm quite a fan of the Ruger line, but from my perspective, you gravitate to some of the oddest guns (or maybe that's just my ignorance?).

I like inexpensive ammunition I can find anywhere, and for that 0.223/5.56. All my rifles are in that caliber (varmints from smaller 4 leg to larger 2 legged) so I buy one caliber in bulk, and can go practice at will and for a decent amount down range without much concern. My father's more like you, and has (and has had) a huge range of guns bought because of this good statistic, or that article, or a good trade, sometimes just because it interested him. <shrug> More power to him, and it makes him happy. But last time I was back visiting I mentioned taking some of them out. Well, he didn't have any ammo for this one, and these are expensive and/or hard to come by, but he had a half a box of these over here, and thought there were some for this one somewhere in the stacks of random partial ammo boxes. For me, one rifle round (5.56), one shot gun round (12GA), one wheel gun round (357M), and one automatic handgun round (9MM). All selected for good all around function, common and easy to find, and comparatively/relatively inexpensive to shoot. I vary the weapon to vary the application, and have several examples for each type of ammo, and some standard or targeted varieties of ammo.

Anyway, good luck with thinning out your varmints.

[tim9lives]

The woodpeckers are your absolute BEST DEFENSE against Pine Beetle infestation. Please...Don't shoot woodpeckers. Pine Beetles are destroying southern pines at alarming rates and I recently read an article showing that woodpeckers do a wonderful job of getting those little larve and slowing infestation. I think I read it on the LSU Agg Center's website.

[mcostello]

We have 2 pairs of Pileated wood peckers here. One was stuck somewhere and the wife freed it. Lousey picture but You can see the red blotch.

Wood pecker.jpg (16.19 KiB) Viewed 7115 times

[Harold_V]

That's way, way cool!
We have pileated here, too, but we don't see them often. Sure are neat critters. Kudos to your wife for saving one.

H

[SteveHGraham]

I'm quite a fan of the Ruger line, but from my perspective, you gravitate to some of the oddest guns (or maybe that's just my ignorance?).

Although "Ruger" is part of the name, not all .204 Ruger rifles are Rugers. The caliber was developed by Ruger and Hornady. I don't have any Ruger firearms. I kind of wish I did, because I bought a Marlin Model 60 instead of a Ruger 10/22, and it shot 5" groups at 50 feet. Remington is in the process of giving me a new one, but I would still rather have a Ruger because I no longer trust Remington.

The .204 is a low-recoil round with a muzzle velocity of around 4000 fps, and people like it for varmints. It should also be very good for rifle practice because it gives good accuracy, and you can see the shots land through the scope. I am hoping to use reloads and shoot it economically.

As for "odd" guns, that's what happens when you shoot for fun as well as practical reasons.

I'm trying to think of "odd" guns I own. I have a K31. It was very cheap, and I think I paid $220 for 480 rounds of Swiss match-grade ammunition, so I don't feel too bad about that. I also have a .38 Super and an aluminum-frame .22 pistol I used to shoot with my grandfather. Other than that, they all seem pretty normal.

The oddest thing about my collection is that I DON'T have an AR-15. I feel like I'm the only person in the US who has no interest in them. Buy a $600 gun with a bunch of parts you need to throw out. Spend another thousand or more on new parts you actually like. End up with a gun worth $750 on Gunbroker, plus a pile of parts no one wants. And then you get (in my opinion) dubious ballistics when you want to protect your home. I feel like a $350 bolt gun is better for accuracy, and an Eastern bloc semi auto is better for self defense.

I got a nice AK for something like $450, and good Tula HP ammo is inexpensive. Very happy about that. It will do what I want better than an AR-15, and if someone steals it out of my truck, a new one will be cheap.

I plan to get a 6.5 Swedish rifle next, so the oddities will continue to collect.

[earlgo]

Pileateds are not uncommon here in Summit Co. Ohio. I hear them hammering in the woods almost every time I walk the dog. My buddy who has a pair nesting on his property says they make a trapezoidal shaped hole as a calling card.
I haven't seen one in quite a while, though.
--earlgo
P.S. I have a 218 Mashburn Bee on a Westley Richards Martini action, Does that qualify as odd?

[SteveHGraham]

I have a 218 Mashburn Bee on a Westley Richards Martini action, Does that qualify as odd?

I have dozens of them. I'm the Grand Shaman of the local Mashburn Bee Society. Great guns for thinning out feral poodles. I'm thinking of getting rid of them because Wal-Mart keeps running out of Mashburn Bee ammo.

I plan to replace it with .20 Vartarg Turbo, necked up to .458 Socom.

[BadDog]

I'm familiar with the name disconnects on some round, just not familiar with that one, and that's not where my mind went.

And I'm not saying odd in meaning something completely off the main path, and special/mail order only. Just that it's not anywhere near the 223/5.6, 12GA, 9mm common. The ammo you mention is either something I haven't heard of before, or something I rarely hear of, but as I said, that could just be my ignorance from not being an actual gun aficionado.

And I really like that VERY/most common part. I buy 5.56 mil surplus and good quality reloads in bulk ammo can quantities. Hard to find anything centerfire that is cheaper to shoot, and I often go through 8 or more (particularly if my DIL is with me) 30 round magazines of 5.56 every time I go to practice. Also whether it's a supply line issue, government meddling, population panic buying, SHF, or just in BFE needing amo, it's hard to beat going with the most common and readily available ammo. If I was really into match shooting, or hunting med/big game, or other such focused various goal oriented shooting activities, I would almost certainly be choosing best suited rounds (and weapons), but that's not the case for me and most casual practice shooters (varmint, home defence, etc).

Oh, and you aren't the only one underwhelmed by ARs. I have never owned one, and likely never will. But I've got several 5.56 weapons, including a bullpup I'm very fond of for desert expeditions. Clips right in beside the driver's seat, and easy to acquire quickly inside and/or when exiting the vehicle.

[earlgo]

Baddog: The 218 Mashburn Bee was 'invented' by A. E. Mashburn of Mashburn Arms Co of Oklahoma City, OK back when wildcatting was the thing. It is no more than fire forming a standard Winchester 218 Bee cartridge in a Mashburn chamber. It adds more case capacity and about 500fps to the velocity. When I was at the CST in Denver, I had the Wesley Richards Cadet Martini action and the school had a Mashburn reamer and a pile of Douglas XX barrels. From that the rifle was born.

218 Bee - 218 Mashburn - loaded

218 MB cases b.jpg (13.25 KiB) Viewed 7026 times

Any more, 218 Bee cases are hard to find, so I have been using 25-20 cases.

Stock of WR Martini

I have other odd cartridges, too, if anyone is interested.
--earlgo

[Harold_V]

Many, many years ago I had a 218 Bee with a 12 power Unertl scope. The thing was a tack driver---but case life was woefully short. Headspacing on the rim leads to separation of the case above the base. For that reason I got rid of the rifle. It was a sheer pleasure to shoot, though.

I wonder---with the fire formed Mashburn brass, do you have the same problem? Seems it might be less inclined to stretch.

Beautiful stock! Similar to the one on my 458, but yours is much prettier.

H

[SteveHGraham]

What are you doing with a .458? Do you live near Jurassic Park?

[earlgo]

Harold: I never had a set of reloading dies for the Mashburn so I used a 222 neck sizer from a Lyman 310 tool. Consequently, the shoulder was never moved much after the initial fire forming. I do not recall a case separation. The Midget Martini action has enough cam action to seat a tight case in the chamber.
Re: the stock. When I was at the CST in Denver, there was a fellow who sold stock blanks out of his basement. The story was he travelled to Missouri every year and combed the sawmills for figured wood. He surely had some nice stuff. This blank was not wanted because it had so much sap wood, but I liked it for that and it was going on a low recoiling rifle so strength was not an issue.
Here is another pic of some of his wood.

Lefever Trap gun

--earlgo