I drove out to Del Rio this morning to visit with the Sheriff

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Scott Tschirhart
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I drove out to Del Rio this morning to visit with the Sheriff

Post by Scott Tschirhart »

Val Verde County has always been a place I loved to be. Nice folks and great memories. When I was about 10 miles from town Kelly Brost sent me this photo. It’s from about 12 years ago and was taken just outside of Del Rio. Good times. I think that Bill Bagwell took the photo of us. We went across the border that night and had one of my last meals at Crosby's. A wonderful place with cold beer and great food. Bill was really worried that we were going to get robbed or attacked by Mexican bandits, but Acuna was a safe place in those days. Not so much today.
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Re: I drove out to Del Rio this morning to visit with the Sheriff

Post by AmBraCol »

Haven't seen Kelly in YEARS! Hope he's doing well, missed him in Raton this year. Border crossing is indeed different now than it used to be. We "live in interesting times".
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Bill in Oregon
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Re: I drove out to Del Rio this morning to visit with the Sheriff

Post by Bill in Oregon »

I've not yet been down that way, Scott. I recently watched a Zoom presentation on the Pecos rock art around Amistad Reservoir. Pretty spectacular country.
Do you recall what that Marlin was chambered in?
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Scott Tschirhart
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Re: I drove out to Del Rio this morning to visit with the Sheriff

Post by Scott Tschirhart »

Bill in Oregon wrote: Wed Sep 08, 2021 7:51 am I've not yet been down that way, Scott. I recently watched a Zoom presentation on the Pecos rock art around Amistad Reservoir. Pretty spectacular country.
Do you recall what that Marlin was chambered in?
We were both shooting .45-70s. He was shooting a really stout smokeless load that was punishing to shoot.

I was shooting a 500 gr Government bullet over 68 gr of Goex FFG. It was much slower than his load, but I don't know that it was any less effective.
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Re: I drove out to Del Rio this morning to visit with the Sheriff

Post by octagon »

Been to Ma Crosbys and LaMacerina many times for froglegs and cold beer. Unfortunate that dopers have shut down that border crossing. Fished the Devils river extensively and saw a number of oudad back then. The first time i saw em, i was up a tree hunting turkeys with a 22 when 2 of em showed up at 50 yards.
Once danced all night in the rain and mud with Mexican "ladies" while mariachis played at 5 bucks a tune. Man, could those girls dance! 8) everthing seems better when beer is 50 cents.
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Re: I drove out to Del Rio this morning to visit with the Sheriff

Post by JimT »

Scott Tschirhart wrote: Wed Sep 08, 2021 8:43 am I was shooting a 500 gr Government bullet over 68 gr of Goex FFG. It was much slower than his load, but I don't know that it was any less effective.
The tests I did many years ago with factory UMC blackpowder 550 gr. loads showed they hit harder than anything I shot that day.

https://leverguns.com/articles/taylor/hit.htm
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Scott Tschirhart
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Re: I drove out to Del Rio this morning to visit with the Sheriff

Post by Scott Tschirhart »

Interesting data Jim.

My .45-70 loads of course will not stay in a deer from any angle and will punch a hog end to end. But even with that round nose bullet at around 1100 fps it hit game animals like a freight train. I never had anything run off when I shot it with the Sharps. It just let the air out of them.

Now, it seems that my .50-70 Sharps might be a bit more effective (with 50 gr less bullet), but I doubt that it can really be proved.
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Re: I drove out to Del Rio this morning to visit with the Sheriff

Post by piller »

One time in Hondo, Richard let a bunch of wild trapped hogs out of a trailer. Several of us from this forum were lined up, and the hods had to go past us. There was just nowhere to go except past us. I was on the far right end with a guide gun. Handloads with 3031 and 405 grain Remington soft points. Not heavy loads. Just about halfway up the Hodgdon recipe for modern lever action loads. One big hog took a couple of hits but made it through. It made almost to the barbed wire fence at the end, about 100 yards away, when Richard yelled "Don't let it get away!". I had 1 shot left. I aimed at the base of its tail. Boom! FLOP!!! It skidded about 3 feet. That 405 grain Remington soft nose was instantly lights out. Richard had his employee and us gather up the carcases and they were taken in to town to be processed and donated to a local food bank. He could have just shot them in the head while they were in the trailer, but we all had a good time practicing our shooting at moving targets. Hogs are fast when motivated. It was a lot of fun!
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Re: I drove out to Del Rio this morning to visit with the Sheriff

Post by JimT »

Scott Tschirhart wrote: Wed Sep 08, 2021 9:36 am My .45-70 loads of course will not stay in a deer from any angle and will punch a hog end to end. But even with that round nose bullet at around 1100 fps it hit game animals like a freight train. I never had anything run off when I shot it with the Sharps. It just let the air out of them.
Big heavy bullets work. They don't have to be real fast. They seem to reach out forever, even if the trajectory is quite high. When I was young I was in Eastern Washington State on my granpa's ranch. Shooting 450 gr. .45-70 loads I shot tumbleweeds out to a half mile or so. Killed quite a few of them. It was easy to spot my shots in the soft fallow ground there.
taylor_ranch_a.jpg
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Re: I drove out to Del Rio this morning to visit with the Sheriff

Post by TraderVic »

Piller, years ago another fellow on Marlinowners , I split a Midway order of 1,000 ; 405 gr Rem bullets (45/70). I still have quite a bunch of them. Anyway, my present load is a bit warm (50 gr H322), so I need to work up a bit milder hunting load.
My Marlin 45/70 shoots the tightest groups with RL7 and H322.
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Scott Tschirhart
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Re: I drove out to Del Rio this morning to visit with the Sheriff

Post by Scott Tschirhart »

In my old Guide Gun, I used 405 gr Remington factory .45-70 ammo to good effect. I did not need to hot rod it at all.
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Re: I drove out to Del Rio this morning to visit with the Sheriff

Post by TraderVic »

Scott Tschirhart wrote: Wed Sep 08, 2021 1:04 pm In my old Guide Gun, I used 405 gr Remington factory .45-70 ammo to good effect. I did not need to hot rod it at all.
My 45/70 is actually a factory converted guide gun, you might even say it's semi custom as all work done was by Marlin. I acquired a new/used Marlin Guide Gun that had been won in a raffle and traded back in, unused. The store had to treat it as a used gun and I snagged it before it went on the rack because I knew the manager quite well.
Anyway - after shooting it for a bit, decided I didn't like the ported barrel. With previous arrangements with Marlin I sent it in and had them install a 22" barrel, which I like much better, even in heavy cover.
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Re: I drove out to Del Rio this morning to visit with the Sheriff

Post by CowboyTutt »

The cartel's are running things down in much of Mexico. I have a friend whose family owns a lot of land and a home there. He goes down there every summer for months. I recently asked him about the cartels. He said they are more powerful than the police. You have to mind your own business. You can't befriend one cartel because the other opposing one may kill you. If someone steals from you, you report it to the local cartel. They will break in and search the house to see if the alleged offender has your stuff and if so, get it back for you. A second offense, they beat you up bad. A third offense and they kill you. If you feel you have just cause to kill someone, you have to get permission first. The cartel just wants to do its business unimpeded. According to my friend, they are a little fearful of white men from the USA because if they kill one, the USA will send the FBI down to investigate and they don't want any part of that. Pretty darn messed up. -Tutt
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Re: I drove out to Del Rio this morning to visit with the Sheriff

Post by samsi »

I worked in Del Rio back in '96-97 and have heard about the changes. Only recall eating at Crosby's once, the crowd I hung with preferred Johnny's. I do remember a shooting in the alley while we were leaving one night, so it wasn't all happiness and light even then. Used to make a quick run into Acuna for weekend BBQ beer often enough that it wasn't a big deal, not like today, or so I hear.

One of my co-workers father had a ranch out near Langtry. Rough kalichi covered kind of place, but it did have a good stretch of the Pecos River running through it. That was a little slice of heaven.
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Re: I drove out to Del Rio this morning to visit with the Sheriff

Post by samsi »

TraderVic wrote: Wed Sep 08, 2021 12:22 pm Piller, years ago another fellow on Marlinowners , I split a Midway order of 1,000 ; 405 gr Rem bullets (45/70). I still have quite a bunch of them. Anyway, my present load is a bit warm (50 gr H322), so I need to work up a bit milder hunting load.
My Marlin 45/70 shoots the tightest groups with RL7 and H322.
I remember that Midway deal on the 405's, think it was $90 and free shipping. The mailman wasn't happy...
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Re: I drove out to Del Rio this morning to visit with the Sheriff

Post by TraderVic »

samsi wrote: Wed Sep 08, 2021 6:23 pm
TraderVic wrote: Wed Sep 08, 2021 12:22 pm Piller, years ago another fellow on Marlinowners , I split a Midway order of 1,000 ; 405 gr Rem bullets (45/70). I still have quite a bunch of them. Anyway, my present load is a bit warm (50 gr H322), so I need to work up a bit milder hunting load.
My Marlin 45/70 shoots the tightest groups with RL7 and H322.
I remember that Midway deal on the 405's, think it was $90 and free shipping. The mailman wasn't happy...
Actually........it was like $80/1000 ; .08/ea .
Nope, UPS did not enjoy that delivery. I enjoy my 30-30 CB way more as I've aged. If only Marlin (Ruger) would bring back the 1894CL :wink:
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