Nostalgia pics/stories from the olden days...?

[sscoyote]

I know there are some oldsters running around this forum...like me. Show us some of your older varminting pics and stories from ancient history [afore the Internet]. Here's one from the 80's--

An oldie i used to snipe chucks with when i was in MD. Used to drive west on I-70 starting right where it ended off the Baltimore Beltway, with this rig in the window mount of my dads old pickup and the truckers would blow their air horns at me on the way by--just try doing that now out there. Eddystone 25-06/Unertl [either 20x 2" or 15x UV], some gouged out wood of some sort. Believe it or not the sucker shot quite well though. Bought it at a gun show in Balt. in semi-ancient history. Hardly anybody ever did this stuff back then. Never could get anybody to go with me. The city-folk used to say i'd never find any open land to shoot any distance--man they were wrong.--

 

[sscoyote]

Interesting Lawrence. Good thing that cat never got out. Can you imagine the look on a farmers face if he saw a cheetah running around out on his farm in the dead of winter??

 

[CanusLatransSnpr]

Thats a good looking rig there Steve! I'm too young for the days of Unertl scopes and being able to "get away" with shooting out the window of the pick up at critters but, I like seeing rifles with Unertl scopes on them. Looks like it was hell on the woodchucks too! I was at the Cabelas in Hammond, IN one time and they had an old varmint rig for sale in their gun vault room. It was an old Mauser action, stock of unknown make but it was of benchrest/varminter design with an old Douglas barrel chambered in .244 Rem. It had a Unertl scope sitting on top of it also! They wanted $1,199.00 for that rifle and I almost bought it because the Unertl scope is worth close to $1,000 itself but, I'm no fan of Mauser actions. Nice pics and I hope you post some more!

Mike

 

[shooter63]

brings back fond memories keep em coming thanks shooter63

 

[sscoyote]

Thks. guys. Cut my teeth on varmints some with that rig back east, but once i moved back out permanent to CO in '84, it also saw some PD action--

I know there's some others out there. Sure love to see 'em.

 

[40X Guy]

Heres a pic I have hanging in the reload room of my 2 uncles after a successful moose hunt in Canada in 1949. They actually drove back from Canada to NW Pa. with the moose on top of the car! Pictured is a pre 64 300 H&H mag, and a Savage 99 in .300 Savage. No scopes used.

Frank

 

[22XC Guy]

Thanks Frank, Just to mention, I still have the rifle today, 1949 per the serial number, the moose was downed with a 165 grain bullet..

Steve

 

[22XC Guy]

Another Uncle, October 28,1967, Crawford County, PA. mountain lion, 68.7" and weighted 48 pounds.. The story was published in the Pennsylvania Game News Febuary 1982..

Steve

 

[bheadboy]

71, griz, Yukon terr. 300wn in heavy snow, horses would not come near, had to cover their heads with rain coats to get him packed out.

Bob

 

[sscoyote]

Great stuff guys--nice to see pics and reminisce about the "olden" days.

 

[sscoyote]

If you look close at the 2nd pic down of the chuck on top of his hole you'll see there's a hole in the fencepost where somebody took a shot at that guy before but missed. The upper chuck was loaded to the gills with tics--worst i ever saw. That was some of the most fun hunting days i ever had--but also some of the loneliest.

 

[sscoyote]

Here's a Martini-actioned, Fajen-stocked 225 Win./Weaver T-10, that never shot great, but sure looked good. Bought it in a gun shop in the early 80's in Randallstown, MD. Did get my 1st triple on prairie dogs with it though. Farmers always appreciated me shootin' their chucks. One day on this particular farm when i came back to my old VW bug the passenger seat was filled with corn he gave me--couldn't believe it. Bet this spot wasn't 30 miles from Baltimore--

There used to be a fishing/boating store on Ft. Smallwood Rd. near Glen Burnie, and the guy that owned it had a hunting counter there with some nice rifles including Weatherby's behind the counter. Coincidentally, he had about 5 boxes of Win. 225's. I knew he'd never sell them, since the cartridge was never popular as it had some tufffff competition from the 22-250 [besides the fact that nobody even knew what a 225 Win. was], but when i came across this rig, i knew where i'd have plenty of brass to buy...cheap! Always wanted to talk to the owner of that fishing store about his shooting/hunting experiences, but never could catch him there. Actually still have a 225 Win, and believe it's a perfect fit between the 223 and 22-250 for a single shot or falling block-style actioned varminter, and is a great long-range high volume varmint round...IMO.

 

[40X Guy]

Steve, those are some very large chucks! Lets see some more pics guys!

Frank

 

[hogan]

Very Cool, and thanks for sharing.

I grew up reading Field & Stream and about 25yrs ago found a hardback of Warren Page's The Accurate Rifle. Pretty cool stories and pix in their if you are interested in the origins of benchrest game up to the late 60s...

Remember an article in Shooting Times about a guy in PA who shot woodchucks with an S&W K22 Masterpiece. Cool article and a timeless, classic handgun.