Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns A great trip...

Had a nice visit with Mackay and his family yesterday and this afternoon headed for Idaho Shooters house north of Boise...

Took the long way around from Rt 30 through Bulh to I-84 and then up to Mountain Home and south to Rt 78 through the back country....

Snake River Valley south of Boise...







Snake River dammed up into a lake....







Lots of open space to off-road and shoot...

[img]http://i17.photobucket.com/alb...tion%207-15-14/022_zpscc32a87e.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i17.photobucket.com/alb...tion%207-15-14/025_zps4bc1d02d.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i17.photobucket.com/alb...tion%207-15-14/028_zps1fb73895.jpg[/img]

Back across the Snake River just south of Nampa...

[img]http://i17.photobucket.com/alb...tion%207-15-14/031_zps0c5bd56b.jpg[/img]

Beautiful country...tomorrow we go do some pistol and rifle shooting...

Bob

Once again, what an awesome trip and adventure!

...and it always a bigger adventure when one drives with Dave (Idaho Shooter) anywhere there is dirt...and that is most of Idaho....

...just getting to the shooting spot is an off-road adventure...








Once everything was unloaded and the target frame set up there was not a piece of flat ground to even sit on...





..everything is at a tilt...



.41 Mountain Gun...

[img]http://i17.photobucket.com/alb...tion%207-15-14/011_zps41f1a05a.jpg[/img]

.41 Special...

[img]http://i17.photobucket.com/alb...tion%207-15-14/015_zps7fa69427.jpg[/img]

Then we moved the 4-wheeler and trucks up to the rim for 200 yard shooting...moving the 4-wheeler up the shortcut was "interesting"....





Shooting the FA97 at some targets at 300 yards...



Dave checking his 7mm STW...



Some 500 yard target work...





..and a neat house being built nearby out of grain silos....

Another great day with a great friend...and then some good Chinese food in Oregon for dinner...

Bob

That country you are in with Idaho Shooter looks JUST LIKE where I deer hunt here. Wonderful country to my mind and eye, though certtainly not for everyone's taste.

So, Dave shoots a 7mmSTW.... perfect for out in that country and my 7mm Mashburn Super is very similar in case capacity and ballistics with a slight edge going to Dave's 7STW.

Do you know what bullet he likes in that fire belching deerslayer? I am going to try 140gr TTSX's, 140 Accubonds, 139gr GMX's and 120gr TTSX's in my blaster.

These new 4 wheelers/quads will take a man and rifle and gear up some nasty inclines, for sure! Looks like another stop with loads of fun!

The popo don't play fair up there. Went through there on my wing a few years ago, unlike arizona, they use different vehicles and combinations. Every time i saw a car, i slowed down. Wasn't a problem as i didn't see a lot of cars. Lot of wide open country, i kept thinking what it was like in december with the wind blowing you sideways in a blizzard.

I'll take a WAG and say that's a stretch of ground between 95 and Sand Hollow from west to east, and south of I-84. In fact from that first pic I'd guess you aren't too far off 95 along Pearl Road.

That was my old stomping grounds for the 13 years I lived in Fruitland. Nice ground squirrel hunting there in the spring if you don't mind the bullets whizzing overhead from the guys cruising the roads and firing wildly with AK's, AR's and hi-cap mags in their 10/22's.

Jim,

We are actually just East of the Gem County/Payette County line and South of the main Black Canyon Canal. Right near the old Gem County Dump site.

Ron,

You message was delivered, concerning the 41 addiction. Bob says that if you would quit buying those trash calibers, you would have plenty of money to feed said addiction.

Mark,

I am presently loading/shooting 160 gr AB over 84 gr of H1000. MV is 3200 fps. My last two bulls were killed with the same powder charge pushing the 162 Hornady btsp.

If I am pursuing mulies, I will leave the shoulder killer Ruger #1 at home and take either the 10 pound plus 27 inch Win 264 with 130 AB at 3300 fps. Or if I actually have to carry it anywhere, the 24 inch Rem 700 in 6-284 with the 95 gr BT at 3300.

I am kind of seeing a theme her with MV. grin

I think Bob's words were, "You people in Idaho are fricken crazy"

I told him that if we did not drive through stuff like this, we simply couldn't get anywhere. Anywhere worth getting to anyway.

At least it is dry and solid now, it gets interesting in late Feb through March.

I managed to not embarrass myself with my 657 and Ruger SBH in 41 at the 300 yd mark. I could have made some peripheral hits on a silhouette target. (we were just choosing badger mounds, ant hills, and the like as targets.)

But at 500 yds, I could not even be sure I was striking the hillside. That is a whole nother ball game.

I will say, I would not want Bob shooting at me with any of his revolvers, even at 500 yds.

Glad to see Bob is making maximum use of his time enjoying the scenery and opportunities. Had a fun time. He never even screamed once when driving down some hills on the lost river range. He is quickly acclimating.

I don't know if Bob screamed or not, he was following in his own truck.

He mentioned an adventure with the ATV. I managed to drop the right front and left rear tires into a couple badger holes at the same time on a rather steep slope. I found it prudent to climb over onto the uphill side of the quad as I backed it back down the hill, and found another line to the top.

Told Bob, I was glad he had not grabbed the video camera.

He said, he could not even watch. He turned the other way as soon as I got hung up. He was prepared to call rescue though, had the quad rolled over on me.

LOL

....I just had to hook up with a cowboy who landed on his head one too many times riding bronks, another who just insisted on riding perfectly good hamburgers and the last who loved to ride motorcycles and and old pickups up and down cliff faces....

But better more reliable friends there are not....

Bob

Awesome pictures and stories!

[quote=RJM]
The trip since leaving Huntsman's place has been great. I spent the next night in Grand Junction visiting with a long time friend... One interesting thing occurred...he went to show me his carry gun, one of a matched set of S&W 342s....and...



....the barrel was missing.... A call to S&W in the morning resulted in a faxed prepaid mailer.... The gun is a .357 Magnum that had 30 rounds of .38 Special 158 grain RNL ammo through it...



As an update...spoke with my friend last week and S&W fixed the gun and had it back to him in a couple of seeks. He didn't as them why or how it may have occurred and wasn't sure if they could tell him anyway....

Bob

try a crush fit barrel for starters.

I was actuallly looking at a 57 marked "mountain gun" blued, today. Ugh, it had those thin wood grips on it, poo. Mine is much prettier that the enabler convinced me to buy a couple of years ago.
I admit there are a lot of "trash" calibers. I love them all.

I might add for bob's benefit, my favorite grandson's wife is about ready to pop a new boy into the family any day. As is usual name selection is afoot. Father and me both think Ragnar, is a good first name. If so, one of bob's tomahawk's will be on the way. Father already has one, but ragnar should grow up with one too.

Knowing that grips are easy to change. It is lucky for me that Mountain Gun is in your AO rather than mine.

A 4 inch Mountain Gun is on my very short list, but my toy budget is already committed for the rest of this year. (and probably part of next)

Great thread.
There are some very nice people on here, good for all of us.

Take care

i took mine out of the safe last night to look at it again. it is the "stainless?" version. a little different than the regular 57 with the tapered barrel etc. I was googlefoing about it and read where it was not a good target gun because of the tapered barrel. Couldn't prove it to me, it shoots good. It has a smooth trigger, and smaller hammer spur where i kind of prefer the target hammer and trigger. Has a pinned in black front sight and i was gogglefoing looking for replacement options. I have to say it locks up like a swiss watch. I paid at the top end, at the time, for it at the pawn shop it was at, but in hindsight looking at prices last night my price is kind of at the bottom of the current range. Not that i would sell it anyway. With the hogue grips and tapered barrel it does have a different feel to it. I have to get out and fire some .41, to get some brass casings back, they are all currently stuffed, so i can put together some loads with a few bullets bob sent me. I think mine was built in 2003 as it is a 4. Just before they started adding the lock, but not pinned, and a crush fit barrel. Cylinder is not recessed either. I don't think it makes any difference. one of the reasons i pulled it out as it has a crush fit barrel is to see if it had a bubble ring on it as it is described due to the tightening and a "hump". It didn't
i might add there is no feel of metal in either single or double action, which is that typical smith action, or the way it should be.