Diverse Sport Shooter & hunter; always seeking advice & knowledge

sethgrdn

Member
Ladies and Gentlemen: My name is Russell, (Russ for casual reference), and I reside in the state of Wisconsin. I have a diverse exposure to many different competitive shooting disciplines and enjoy discussion with other hobbyists and professionals. My most preferred recreational shooting activity is long distance bench rest shooting, to include the occasional 1000 yard match or casual shooting opportunity. Although the bench rest activity I prefer most often here in the U.S. is 200 - 300 meter handgun silhouette shooting at both paper and steel targets. Of course, I indulge in hunting, fishing and many other forms of outdoor recreation. My favorite hunting rifle is my Sauer 202 Highland light alloy with a tube chambered in .308 Win. My other hobby is photography. Currently, I have approximately 3400 photos registered at the Library of Congress from around the world. I have traveled to China 3 times, ( in every province on trip 2), traveled throughout the entire EU, Ukraine, throughout most of southeast Asia, much of the middle east, Kenya, South Korea Japan etc. I lived on the German economy both as an active duty service member and a contractor. My German proficiency is a bit lousy considering the time of exposure, but I suppose sufficient to live and work in that country. I am very interested in the European hunting culture. Finally, my time in the UK was too brief. The folks are generally wonderful, courteous and receptive to inquiries and needs of others. Gotta go! Look forward to correspondence with you! Kind Regards, Russ M.
 
Welcome Russ
i can't help but remain slightly envious regarding the gun related freedoms that you enjoy over the pond that we have sadly lost. Long range handgun sounds fun! Is this a wheel gun event or some sort of shortened rifle affair?
 
Thank you sir. It's my privilege to correspond with you about our common interest. I am a passionate recreational shooter who is a mere novice in comparison to those devoted old-timers I have learned so much from. I have these men and women to thank for much talent gained. (several of whom humbled me greatly at the Palma team try outs at Camp Perry, Ohio a few decades ago!) Before I began my bench rest shooting hobby with the Thompson Center Contender A frame handgun, I used a revolver often for short distance 100 meter bull targets. As a handgun shooter, I had never used a revolver or pistol for anything outside traditional IDPA or standardized target shooting before. This recreational shooting was done while in Germany, at MWR facilities owned and operated by the U.S. government as well as specific private German shooting clubs. When I returned to the U.S. for 2 years, I decided to experiment with non-commercial cartridges when possible. So, I began resizing .223 brass to a neck diameter of 7mm and reloading these casings. I have never yet reloaded the fire formed cartridges; the raw resized cartridges have performed equivalent to precision match rifle accuracy at 200 meters as well as awesome performance on the hunt and at the range. The 7mm TCU cartridge is fired from a 10 inch barrel on my TC with zero recoil and the power of a lightning bolt if bullet performance is correct on game. Two years ago I decided to purchase another barrel chambered in an older American commercial cartridge, since I my schedule no longer allowed for the range time and the reloading time. The .35 Remington is relatively easy to obtain at the local ACE hardware, more rarely at Wal-Mart locations, but much more convenient for me as a sport shooter and hunter with limited time. This cartridge, as most people, (except for hobbyists like myself), would never anticipate, had the same flight path and optic setting as the little 7, at 200 meters, but with a more suitable heavy bullet for larger game. The physics associated with reloading is very interesting. I can discuss my reloading data later. Let me just tell you that I was shocked at the level of accuracy this gun cartridge combination can produce at 200 meters, 1/4 m.o.a. under mechanical perfect stability, yet I an experienced shooter could hold 8 shots within a 3.5 inch circle with this tiny gun off the bench on a good day. Enough babble. Just a bit of info. for your leisure; let me know if you have any inquiries on reloading. I have to emphasize that I am a casual, recreational shooter with past experience as a competitor in various shooting disciplines. I only have a few big game animals to my name, but living here in Wisconsin is changing that quickly! Any questions I'm sure I can help you with from the most technical, (i.e. turbulence, harmonic instability, burning rates), to the most basic such as bore sighting a hunting rifle or field dressing a big game animal.
 
Welcome Russ, I thought I was 'Well' traveled! seems I am an amateur, with your experience in the shooting circuit you will fit in well, were the photographs taken as work or as a tourist, & can they be viewed?
 
Hello Rick: Please excuse my late reply. The last few weeks have been a profound learning experience with much stress involved. In any case, I suppose this could be beneficial should I ever require an edge in evasion tactics while predator hunting. Lovely, but crazy lady! First, I'd like to emphasize that although I've traveled to a few destinations, I'm just a simple man with champagne taste and a beer wallet. Lately, I've barely met that criteria! Most of my photos have been taken as a tourist with several different Nikon DSL-R cameras, one Canon, and 4 or 5 digital cameras. There were also a few 35 mm's which include primarily a Pentax ZX-7. I'm an amateur photographer with very limited technical knowledge in terms of equipment, and a preference for both quality and progress. In other words, I usually do not use tripods or other external stabilizers in the interest of time while traveling. I seem to have the ability to 'shoot straight' and produce clear, quality images without the aid of extra equipment, unless shutter speed is exceptionally slow. Should I require external support, I simply rest camera or hands against something. Last Thursday, I submitted my most recent consolidated photo index to the Washington D.C. Library of Congress, Copyright Office for update. Currently, I do not have any photos posted for viewing, however, some will soon be stored to the Sky-Drive. I should mention that I was very pleased when I discovered the photo producing potential of some tablets, Samsung and iPad versions specifically. In terms of size, convenience and efficiency, quality tablets and Smart Phones can be suitable substitutes when a camera is not available or too conspicuous in certain environments. Of course, we all know general awareness of cameras can cause locals to feel uneasy or agitate authorities, such as law enforcement. I previously owned a Galaxy which was purchased as a set in the Bangkok mall October 2011. Now I'm sure it would have been a better decision to retain it. The cheap one purchased in the U.S. 4 years later, simply could not match the image quality, not even close; again this was 4 years later! So this supports the reason I was very pleased when I discovered the photo producing potential of Samsung and iPad tablets specifically. This certainly has to do with the light gathering characteristics and other elements of lens technology, such as is found in a quality hunting optic. Although, I have never owned an iPad to date, that may change. Now if I were a professional photographer, or more passionate photo hobbyist than I currently am, perhaps I would never even elude to the idea that Smartphones and tablets can indeed serve as substitutes for cameras in many instances! Perhaps you may recall the desperate rationalizing and denial of several big medium format and 35 mm professional camera manufacturing firms like Konica Minolta, always suggesting digital technology could never match professional developed film quality.Yet they eventually had to embrace the change in technology and re-engineer their manufacturing plants. Now I need to set up my reloading bench. Have a wonderful day sir!
 
A quick courtesy greeting to you again sir: The last month has been rather busy for me with the updating and re-consolidation of a photo index and several government accounts. Therefore, I have only corresponded with a few folks on this site. I have been a new member for just over a month and am very enthusiastic about learning from other sportsman, such as yourself. The hunting seasons for upland game, wild turkey and whitetail deer are underway here in Wisconsin, as in most states in the U.S. Currently, archery season and crossbow for deer, (gun seasons begin in November for whitetail) Grey wolf and black bear dates should have have been determined. I just remembered I may receive a bobcat permit this year. I need to check if DNR issued me a tag for a cat this year. That'll be a new experience for me! It is interesting to note, that throughout the U.S., there are specific fur-bearing animals which can be hunted and trapped 365 days a year due to the invasive characteristics they possess. Examples include: feral hogs and coyote. Although, wild-boar are native to the wild, and especially high in numbers in the southeastern states and Texas, these animals are generally considered invasive to the surrounding environment, and hunters are encouraged to harvest these pigs whenever they make contact with them. This kind of opportunity is great for folks like myself who may not always have a schedule which permits hunting during the regular gun-deer seasons.
 
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Welcome Russ, love to explore US more. Having family there I tend to visit them and not explore but I should do!

Understand you have a lot of waterfowling up with you guys?

Scrummy
 
Yes Scrummy. Waterfowl hunting for a wide variety of migratory birds is very common throughout the U.S. This is especially true within and around federal refuges which open during the designated waterfowl seasons of each state. My original state of residence on the east coast provides some of the best waterfowl hunting in the U.S.
 
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