Saturday success !

[6pt-sika]

Plunked one Saturday with my 6.5 Sherman Short Mag shooting Handloaded Hornady 143 gr ELD-X pushed with 64 grs of RL-25 . It was a heck of a long shot ......... all of 18 yards , I was actually shooting down at him as I was about thirty five feet up a tree but closer to 45 feet above the deer . He was missing half his rack I’d say hit by a car but I dunno . This guy was stinking to high heaven from the rut which is about 2-3 weeks late by usual standards .

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[6pt-sika]

Friend of mine plunked this 13 point Saturday afternoon . He wasn’t hunting with me but a county over from me .

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[GunnyMack]

That puts meat in the freezer!
Our season opens in a few hours- trying to get myself moving!

The other day I was somewhere and I smelled buck on the wind, sure enough I saw deer not far away, chasing!

It's also bear season, hope to see one as the farm I hunt has more than a few!

[RIHMFIRE]

Congrats
I have not seen a buck yet this !.....I have not seen a legal buck in years...

Missed a walking pig at 125 yds. though...offhand

[OldWin]

Congratulations! Nice buck.

[FLINT]

Nice job and nice buck!

I saw a very similar half rack buck a few weeks ago, but I had already killed an 8pt during muzzle loader season and we are only allowed two bucks west of the blue ridge and my policy is that my second buck has to be bigger than my first one, so I gave him a pass. If he comes back next year with both horns he'll be pretty good.

and yes, I was scouting around yesterday moving my game cameras and found two big fresh scrapes about 20 yards apart and when a breeze kicked up I could smell the rutting buck smell coming off of one of them. I was thinking it was a little late for that business, but its 2020, so I guess anything is possible.

I'm envious of you east of the blue ridge guys with your super long firearms season and extra buck tag. back when I lived east of the blue ridge the limit was three deer total, there was only a couple doe days a year and it was shotgun only.

[6pt-sika]

Nice job and nice buck!

I saw a very similar half rack buck a few weeks ago, but I had already killed an 8pt during muzzle loader season and we are only allowed two bucks west of the blue ridge and my policy is that my second buck has to be bigger than my first one, so I gave him a pass. If he comes back next year with both horns he'll be pretty good.

and yes, I was scouting around yesterday moving my game cameras and found two big fresh scrapes about 20 yards apart and when a breeze kicked up I could smell the rutting buck smell coming off of one of them. I was thinking it was a little late for that business, but its 2020, so I guess anything is possible.

I'm envious of you east of the blue ridge guys with your super long firearms season and extra buck tag. back when I lived east of the blue ridge the limit was three deer total, there was only a couple doe days a year and it was shotgun only.

Heck there was a time over here that you could kill all the bucks you wanted as long as you kept buying bonus tags . Now bonus tag has just antlerless but when it first started you bought bonus tags in groups of two a doe tag and an either tag . There were several years during that time I’d kill 6 or 8 bucks . What part the valley you hunt ? Well rather what area you live Winchester , Harrisonburg or Roanoke ?

[Sixgun]

Whoa! 18 yards? You must of needed the BDC (bullet drop compensater) for that one!

6.5 Sherman Short mag? Educate me..........sounds like the 300 WSM necked down.----6

[FLINT]

Heck there was a time over here that you could kill all the bucks you wanted as long as you kept buying bonus tags . Now bonus tag has just antlerless but when it first started you bought bonus tags in groups of two a doe tag and an either tag . There were several years during that time I’d kill 6 or 8 bucks . What part the valley you hunt ? Well rather what area you live Winchester , Harrisonburg or Roanoke ?

Harrisonburg area

[6pt-sika]

6.5 Sherman Short mag? Educate me..........sounds like the 300 WSM necked down.----6

SAUM case trimmed just a skoosh , shoulder pushed back a hair and the body n shoulder blown out then necked down to 6.5mm . I ran across 100 unfired pieces of brass for it before I knew what it was . I researched , bought the brass , got a Shilen #3 stainless 1:8 and rented the reamer an gauges from Sherman . I got the brass for next to nothing compared to what they get on their website . Reamer rental was fair also , think it cost me $40 for reamer and gauges . This thing with the same length barrel will out hot Rod the 6.5 PRC or atleast the one I have . But both those cartridges are again the answer to a question that wasn’t asked . They’re in the same league with the 6.5-06 (which I also have) , 6.5x284 and the 6.5 REM MAG (which I used to have).

[6pt-sika]

Heck there was a time over here that you could kill all the bucks you wanted as long as you kept buying bonus tags . Now bonus tag has just antlerless but when it first started you bought bonus tags in groups of two a doe tag and an either tag . There were several years during that time I’d kill 6 or 8 bucks . What part the valley you hunt ? Well rather what area you live Winchester , Harrisonburg or Roanoke ?

Harrisonburg area

I used to frequent a couple dealers in Harrisonburg . Wayne Runions place when he was on I believe RT 11 then he moved to the mall with the Windmills right off 81 . I also used to go to a gunsmith guys shop that was in an old 7-11 on RT 42 I think it was guys name was Hansen I believe but he’s been closed now for over fifteen years .

[FLINT]

I used to frequent a couple dealers in Harrisonburg . Wayne Runions place when he was on I believe RT 11 then he moved to the mall with the Windmills right off 81 . I also used to go to a gunsmith guys shop that was in an old 7-11 on RT 42 I think it was guys name was Hansen I believe but he’s been closed now for over fifteen years .

Yes, Runions is now in an old shopping center off of 11. I try to buy as much of my ammo there as I can (back when such a thing was possible). I don't know of a Hansen, but there is an old guy named Hudson who runs a little shop out of his house off of 42 near hillandale park. He was a gunsmith, but I think now has scaled back to just building BP guns. He's a good guy.

[BenT]

Nice deer!

[Sixgun]

THANKS 6 point......
So it's a hunting cartridge as it would burn up barrels in 1500-2000 rounds which makes it unsuitable for a long range target round. It's easy to go through that much in one season....Thinkng here...if I was a rich guy and didn't care about burning up barrels that 6.5 Sherman would make one hell of a long range target round.....figure, pushing 139 VLD's at 3100 would win you the match every time.---6

[piller]

Shilen is about 30 minutes from my house. Good people there. Once a year they hold an open house and show the public what they do. Very informative.

[6pt-sika]

THANKS 6 point......
So it's a hunting cartridge as it would burn up barrels in 1500-2000 rounds which makes it unsuitable for a long range target round. It's easy to go through that much in one season....Thinkng here...if I was a rich guy and didn't care about burning up barrels that 6.5 Sherman would make one hell of a long range target round.....figure, pushing 139 VLD's at 3100 would win you the match every time.---6

When I built the 26 Nosler the consensus said barrel or throat rather would be shot in 900 or so rounds . My 26 so far has had less then 200 rounds through it mostly working up loads for 130’s and 140’s . After that I shoot it maybe 10-20 times a year . At that rate and me being almost sixty the barrel on that thing will outlast me and the same can be said for this Sherman gun .

[6pt-sika]

Shilen is about 30 minutes from my house. Good people there. Once a year they hold an open house and show the public what they do. Very informative.

I use Shilen barrels in my builds most of the time and have had excellent results . I do have a #1 with a Lilja barrel but it was on it when I bought the gun and my 6mm-06 has a Hawk Hill barrel but I wanted to try them as a friend that’s big into tacticool matches recommended them and they’re in Verona VA about 30-50 miles from me .

[6pt-sika]

I used to frequent a couple dealers in Harrisonburg . Wayne Runions place when he was on I believe RT 11 then he moved to the mall with the Windmills right off 81 . I also used to go to a gunsmith guys shop that was in an old 7-11 on RT 42 I think it was guys name was Hansen I believe but he’s been closed now for over fifteen years .

Yes, Runions is now in an old shopping center off of 11. I try to buy as much of my ammo there as I can (back when such a thing was possible). I don't know of a Hansen, but there is an old guy named Hudson who runs a little shop out of his house off of 42 near hillandale park. He was a gunsmith, but I think now has scaled back to just building BP guns. He's a good guy.

You’re right the guy that was off 42 in the old 7-11 was Hudson . I think Hansen was the name of the old fellow that was close off 33 on the road going to Massanetta Springs , think that guy has passed though .

[FLINT]

I used to frequent a couple dealers in Harrisonburg . Wayne Runions place when he was on I believe RT 11 then he moved to the mall with the Windmills right off 81 . I also used to go to a gunsmith guys shop that was in an old 7-11 on RT 42 I think it was guys name was Hansen I believe but he’s been closed now for over fifteen years .

Yes, Runions is now in an old shopping center off of 11. I try to buy as much of my ammo there as I can (back when such a thing was possible). I don't know of a Hansen, but there is an old guy named Hudson who runs a little shop out of his house off of 42 near hillandale park. He was a gunsmith, but I think now has scaled back to just building BP guns. He's a good guy.

You’re right the guy that was off 42 in the old 7-11 was Hudson . I think Hansen was the name of the old fellow that was close off 33 on the road going to Massanetta Springs , think that guy has passed though .

There is an old gunsmith near massanutten springs named John Ritenour. the shop is called Homestead gunsmith shop. I think John had some health problems 10 years ago but he is still around - saw him at the landfill last week. His son or grandson may run the shop now - not sure. Haven't been in there in many years. This might not be the guy you are thinking of though.

[6pt-sika]

I used to frequent a couple dealers in Harrisonburg . Wayne Runions place when he was on I believe RT 11 then he moved to the mall with the Windmills right off 81 . I also used to go to a gunsmith guys shop that was in an old 7-11 on RT 42 I think it was guys name was Hansen I believe but he’s been closed now for over fifteen years .

Yes, Runions is now in an old shopping center off of 11. I try to buy as much of my ammo there as I can (back when such a thing was possible). I don't know of a Hansen, but there is an old guy named Hudson who runs a little shop out of his house off of 42 near hillandale park. He was a gunsmith, but I think now has scaled back to just building BP guns. He's a good guy.

You’re right the guy that was off 42 in the old 7-11 was Hudson . I think Hansen was the name of the old fellow that was close off 33 on the road going to Massanetta Springs , think that guy has passed though .

There is an old gunsmith near massanutten springs named John Ritenour. the shop is called Homestead gunsmith shop. I think John had some health problems 10 years ago but he is still around - saw him at the landfill last week. His son or grandson may run the shop now - not sure. Haven't been in there in many years. This might not be the guy you are thinking of though.

The guy I’m talking about was or is a gunsmith . When you walked in the door it was like an old time gunsmith stuff was all over the place in what to me seemed like no kind of order. You’re most likely correct again on the name .