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An Evening Stroll #7833122 05/08/20 01:24 AM
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After dinner this evening, I decided to take a walk and see what there was to see. As spring has been bumping up against summer around here the past week or so, I was dressed as much for chasing elephant in Miatengwe as for anything Coleman County has to offer…climate and vegetation being similar. Shorts, gaiters, culling belt, binos, double rifle…yep, if I stumbled across an errant Ndlovu I’d be kitted out just fine…

The wind was still ripping as it’d been all day, a recipe for skittish animals. As proof, a hog sprinted across a flat 150 yards ahead of me…and there was NO way that he’d either seen or winded me. He was just LEAVING.

Since he’d headed west, I’d do the same. I waited a few minutes, then made my way across the same flat. Stepping across a dry wash, I made my way toward the side of a rocky ridge ahead of me. Following a game trail through the mesquite and greenbriar, I slowly worked my way toward the top of the ridge. Two thirds of the way up, I heard hogs in the thick stuff to my north and downslope from me. Quickly easing forward, I found another trail coming up from below…and hog sounds approaching.

Slipping the safety on my SIACE .45-70 double, I watched several hogs working their way up the slope through the tangle of oaks and greenbriar. As the wind was in my favor, I let them come to about 30 steps and them put the right barrel thru the top of the lead pig’s head, dropping it on the spot. The second hog, likely a sister to the first, wasn’t sure what had just happened but was determined to get clear of the wrath that had just descended on its littermate, and charged past it up the slope. Swinging with the moving hog, I fired the left barrel as the second pig’s head cleared the brush and watched it fall. Break the gun, dump the empty cases, reload…listening to the rest of the bunch trying to put a zip code between me and them.

Easy, peasy, Japaneazy. Except now I had photos to take and a green hell between me and my subjects. I got it done, but when finished I looked exactly like I HAD been hunting Miatengwe…and the wait-a-bit had taken their toll! Fair enough…blood for blood…Africa OR Texas.

Mark

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"I always take care to fire into the nearest hillside and, lacking that, into darkness". - the late Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
Re: An Evening Stroll [Re: 218 Bee] #7833135 05/08/20 01:35 AM
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Good shooting! up


...and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. Gen. 1:28
Re: An Evening Stroll [Re: 218 Bee] #7833152 05/08/20 01:46 AM
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Great story!


Combat Infantryman, the ultimate hunter where the prey shoots back.
_____________"Illegitimus non carborundum est"_______________

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Re: An Evening Stroll [Re: 218 Bee] #7833215 05/08/20 03:56 AM
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Living the dream cheers


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Re: An Evening Stroll [Re: 218 Bee] #7833229 05/08/20 04:20 AM
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Good story. Great gun!


To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first and call whatever you hit the target.

www.NewHopeEquine.com - Health and Healing through Horses.
Re: An Evening Stroll [Re: dkershen] #7833255 05/08/20 04:52 AM
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Originally Posted by dkershen
Good story. Great gun!


Do not forget to entertain strangers, For by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels
Hebrews 13:2
Re: An Evening Stroll [Re: 218 Bee] #7833266 05/08/20 05:41 AM
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Nice.

Re: An Evening Stroll [Re: dkershen] #7833294 05/08/20 11:25 AM
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Originally Posted by Creekrunner
Good shooting! up

Originally Posted by dkershen
Good story. Great gun!


texas flag








Re: An Evening Stroll [Re: 218 Bee] #7833299 05/08/20 11:41 AM
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Outstanding firearm and story! My 303 British Scout and I were in the wilds of India yesterday!

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I hope to travel to coastal Pakistan (LRGV) later this year and take a nilgai!

wink


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Re: An Evening Stroll [Re: 218 Bee] #7833325 05/08/20 12:18 PM
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Isn't it interesting how hunting allows us to be many places at the same time? In northwestern Zimbabwe, I could have sworn I was in the Texas Hill Country. The other morning, I could've sworn that the air had the dry, flinty smell of Matetsi. And the tools that we carry sometimes help to complete the picture...

Good looking Scout, by the way. What action is that built on? And good luck down in Pakistan when you go after that blue bull!

Mark


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"I always take care to fire into the nearest hillside and, lacking that, into darkness". - the late Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
Re: An Evening Stroll [Re: 218 Bee] #7833335 05/08/20 12:34 PM
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up


"everyone that lives dies but not everyone who dies lived..."

~PMK~
Re: An Evening Stroll [Re: 218 Bee] #7833373 05/08/20 01:25 PM
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great story

Re: An Evening Stroll [Re: 218 Bee] #7833398 05/08/20 02:00 PM
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Originally Posted by 218 Bee
Good looking Scout, by the way. What action is that built on? And good luck down in Pakistan when you go after that blue bull!


Mark, it started life with me when I found a very beat-up truck gun, a SMLE #4 MKI.

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It took a considerable effort to get the barrel cleaned out, but when I finally shot it, I could not believe the sub-MOA performance. I sent it to a gunsmith in NE that has done a bit of work for me along with a layout of it being a modern scout rifle. In particular, along the lines of my Savage 10FCMs (308 Win & 7.62x39).

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It remains a .75 MOA five-shot shooter out through 300-yards.

No collectible SMLE was harmed with this work!


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Re: An Evening Stroll [Re: 218 Bee] #7833426 05/08/20 02:27 PM
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Ranch Dog, when I saw the pic of your "Indian" pig, I started to mouth off and say that for shooting a .303 you should have had an SMLE (and preferably a Jungle Carbine!).

Then I looked closer at the pic and immediately thought "Savage"...but they don't chamber a .303. Then I saw the stripper bridge and thought...NO...I gotta ask!

The Enfields were always wicked fast...glad to hear that yours is a lazer as well!

Mark


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"I always take care to fire into the nearest hillside and, lacking that, into darkness". - the late Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
Re: An Evening Stroll [Re: 218 Bee] #7833433 05/08/20 02:32 PM
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Cool hunt and awesome rifle!

Re: An Evening Stroll [Re: 218 Bee] #7833479 05/08/20 02:57 PM
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SIACE rifles are soooooooooooooooooooooooo nice! Thanks for taking us along on your mini safari.

Re: An Evening Stroll [Re: 218 Bee] #7833662 05/08/20 05:36 PM
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Thanks Choctaw!

Yep, she's a handsome filly (especially the wood)...but I swear the Italians have some of the strangest ideas when it comes to firearms embellishment. This rifle is a case in point...

This is their "Alaskan" model. OK, fair enough...there's even what I assume is a dall sheep engraved under the receiver (the engraving is far better than I could do, but a far piece from being Bulino quality). So, "Alaskan" and "dall sheep"...I'm with them so far. But nobody of my acquaintance hunts sheep with a .45-70. And certainly not with a double rifle! Carve a big Russian boar on them and I'd completely understand...

Regardless, the little cannon shoots both tubes where I look and the recoil is negligible compared to the big Nitro Expresses so it's a fun package to tote around!

Mark


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"I always take care to fire into the nearest hillside and, lacking that, into darkness". - the late Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
Re: An Evening Stroll [Re: 218 Bee] #7833720 05/08/20 06:20 PM
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Absolutely awesome 218! Funny about the dall sheep. Even a bear would have been a better fit. You reckon that thaey have been to AK? The rifle would be perfect for moose in the timber.


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Re: An Evening Stroll [Re: 218 Bee] #7833760 05/08/20 07:06 PM
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RD, I think you likely nailed it...with all the best intentions (and likely never having been to Alaska) SIACE let their "art department" loose. I hadn't considered bear or moose, but either would have been more appropriate!


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"I always take care to fire into the nearest hillside and, lacking that, into darkness". - the late Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
Re: An Evening Stroll [Re: 218 Bee] #7834167 05/09/20 03:38 AM
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Nice shooting 218!!! And thanks for the journey!!

Re: An Evening Stroll [Re: 218 Bee] #7835842 05/11/20 01:39 PM
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That's good stuff. The first one is giving you the crazy eye

Re: An Evening Stroll [Re: TKandMike] #7835856 05/11/20 01:56 PM
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Originally Posted by TKandMike
That's good stuff. The first one is giving you the crazy eye


Sorry about that.

That pic was the most "gentle" of the ones I took. That big cast slug slamming into his skull just above his eyes popped both of 'em out of their sockets...and exited behind and below his left shoulder!

Mark


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"I always take care to fire into the nearest hillside and, lacking that, into darkness". - the late Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
Re: An Evening Stroll [Re: 218 Bee] #7847296 05/22/20 01:37 AM
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clap up up


THE ROAD GOES ON FOREVER AND THE PARTY NEVER ENDS.

F##K YOU JOE BIDEN !!!!!
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