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Great read, do pretty much all my hunting with a VZ-24 in 8x57 and my trusty 10/22 carbine...both with 4x38 Weavers mounted. Started with an 8x57 and irons...fiddled around with a few other rifles and cartridges(still have a few), ...none of them killed anything any deaded than the old 8x57.


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I don't always shoot Mausers, but when I do...I prefer VZ-24s.

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John, I've complimented your writing before and this is another opportunity for me to thank you for the entertainment, the factoids, the opinions...

And also it give me a chance to mention that I find your writing style -- effective grammar, useful punctuation -- to often be way more betterer than many of the other guys out there. Many are equally entertaining and so forth, but few use the language quite as well as you do.

I remember being out west on a few javelina hunts almost 30 years ago where I may have mentioned around the campfire that it was beginning to seem to me anything .223 or bigger would prob'ly work fine. The old salts just grinned; the new guys almost choked on their... er... coffee... or whatever it was in their mug at the time. I was mostly using handguns for hunting back then; didn't seem to need any special cartridge since that was more about sighting issues than anything else.

(Oh, and most of my rifles are family-pass-downs, including a dreaded PF in .338 WM, a .348 M71 with <gasp!> iron sights, and a .300 Savage M99 that is obviously less effective -- by definition -- than a .308 or a .30-'06.)

Cheers, -Chris

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Nice article John! I think everyone appreciated the way you sprinkled the humor all the way through because if not some of us would probably be crying.

Like many here I have done the custom route, the CRF craze, the SS and synthetic thing, the wood and SS fad, the single shot show, the WSM, WSSM, RUM and SAUM adventure and don't get me started on the scope thing.

I now like to purchase older rifles for their historical past but I only want ones that are all original and they are getting harder to come by thank goodness!


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Thanks, guys!

My latest over-obsession is drillings. After trying a couple, finally bought one that pretty much turned out to be perfect for my needs a decade ago, and have hunted it with perfect satisfaction since. But somehow, over the past couple of years, two more have shown up in the safe....


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John,

How much of that looniness is just a consequence of most deer hunters being crazy to one degree or another? Since I live in Illinois I don't know many elk/moose/bear hunters, but deer hunters definitely seem crazier than average, even here where we have to shoot deer with shotgun slugs. They are noticeably crazier than bird, small game and predator hunters. Coon hunters may be just as crazy as deer hunters, but it's a completely different kind of craziness, in my opinion. Just sayin', The looniness might be related.......

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Good article JB.
I THINK I’ve neared the end of the pursuit of the perfect rifle ‘cause I think that I finally have enough rifles to cover just about any contingency; even multiples of the same cartridge.... just in case. BUT, there’s always that tiny little niche that the Looney mind thinks needs to be filled.

For me as a looney, my biggest problem is trying to find a “better” load....can a different bullet shoot a little better? Can a different primer make a difference? Etc., etc..

Don’t forget the the pursuit of perfection can also extend to hunting equipment, knives, binos, scopes, etc. Guilty!


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I might be losing it, but I think I have gone past the perfect rifle phase. I am still a looney, but figure if I shoot enough practice rounds through any rifle, it will work. It is not so much about the perfect rifle anymore as thinking it would be really cool to own X,Y or Z rifle. I have mauser, push feed, Model 70's, muzzleloaders, and AR's. I like them all.

From a pragmatice, utilitarian approach, a few rifles would easily cover all the hunting I do. But I like rifles! I know a guy that has 15 classic cars, another that has 20 motorcycles. Life is to enjoy, so enjoy it.

My latest enjoyment besides my tried and trued hunting rifles is a Husky project in 6.5x55 that someone "decided to go a different direction". I really like the rifle, did a few simple things and it is fun to carry and shoot. If I get serious about the rifle, it will need some more serious TLC, but it shoots great right now.

Last edited by CRS; 07/08/20.

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Originally Posted by CRS

From a pragmatice, utilitarian approach, a few rifles would easily cover all the hunting I do. But I like rifles!


I understand completely. For the hunting I do my 700 Classic in 300 Savage would have it covered. But what would I do with my herd of 308's, or my 700 Classic in 250 Savage, or my 243, or my ....?

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Or a 6.5x57R drilling, with 16-gauge shotgun barrels--AND a Krieghoff 8" insert in .22 Rimfire Magnum for the right-hand shotgun barrel that puts 5 shots into an inch at 50 yards? What more do we really "need" for 99% of hunting?


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Originally Posted by Mule Deer

My latest over-obsession is drillings. After trying a couple, finally bought one that pretty much turned out to be perfect for my needs a decade ago, and have hunted it with perfect satisfaction since. But somehow, over the past couple of years, two more have shown up in the safe....


Originally Posted by Mule Deer
Or a 6.5x57R drilling, with 16-gauge shotgun barrels--AND a Krieghoff 8" insert in .22 Rimfire Magnum for the right-hand shotgun barrel that puts 5 shots into an inch at 50 yards? What more do we really "need" for 99% of hunting?



Drillings were surprisingly (to me) uncommon when I was hunting in Germany ("West Germany," at the time) back in the early '80s. And I never saw a Vierling afield anywhere. We used to make a pilgrimage to Frankonia Jagd in Munchen from time to time, though (even bought some of our furniture from them) to ogle the merchandise. Didn't have enough D-Marks to rub together then, though, so a Drilling never made it into my safe...

Made do with a Husqvarna M96 in 6.5x55 for a while, although military sights weren't great. Worked well enough on rehbok, though.

-Chris

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Vintage JB; I like articles like that.

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What purchases or possessions have changed your life?

I've quoted the line "The things you own end up owning you" from the movie "Fight Club" more than a few times, but I still like having nice things and my firearms are some of them.



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John, my first comment is about your style. I don't quite know how to define it. It's a blend of curmudgeonly, sarcastic, jaded, cynical and snarky. But somehow you pull it off with warmth, humor and genuineness without coming off as condescending or arrogant.

"to “control” the cartridge during its long and difficult journey from magazine to chamber."

That says so much more than it says, and all of us can relate to it.

Now for the question that says so much more than it says. The rifle loony in you will smile or perhaps smirk at this. Have you ever played with a rifle built on a Barnard action?

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Thanks! One thing I try to do is make it plain that among the rifle loonies I poke fun of is me....

No, I haven't played with a Barnard action.


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You will never be perfect, but on the way to perfect, you may achieve excellent. Rio7

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My goodness, this poor guy is trying to retire, and you guys just hammer him with questions...lol I'm being sarcastic of course, because I do the same thing to him. Thank you John for being a good sport and always helping everyone! I agree with PaulBarnard, you have a very elegant style, making your work informative, understandable, with witty good humor along the way.

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Thanks!

Am apparently very weakly trying to retire--don't think I ever will, totally. Most writers don't.

Did drop half my magazine work a couple years ago, because it started to become a PITA and had made some OK investments that paid as well. Had enough steady work with three magazines to more than get by.

But in the past three months have had four other magazines I haven't written for in a couple years (and sometimes much longer) ask me to do something, for more than they'd ever paid before. Didn't have the will to resist....



“Montana seems to me to be what a small boy would think Texas is like from hearing Texans.”
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JB, you are always willing to answer questions and being so approachable you make everyone feel like a friend. Thanks.


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John...I like when you say" something will do this, that, or the other thing," then say, " or maybe not." Cracks me up every time, but that`s so true.

Keep up the great work.

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"This Alaskan grizzly is unaware that it’s not really dead, since it was shot with a push-feed rifle."
Probably one of the greatest photo captions ever. Well played, John, well played.



"Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing."
Robert E. Howard
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