doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Totally forgot

They are.
You only get a couple in life.

So don’t be cheap. Buy a case of “your” favorite load and just get after it.

Bismuth is the go to load for non lead sites in the UK, and has every type and kind available.

Pretty sure the pellets are made in Spain, and the cartridges assembled in the UK.

Check out “Just Cartridges” for what all is available, and then look for a US importer.

Fortunately, the non-tox bugaboo hasn’t hunted me down just yet. I’m still shooting lead hunting loads in all gauges, some of which were purchased by greatest generation relatives and friends in the 1960s. They don’t need them any more, and saw that the stuff mostly landed, here.

I have a box of 20 gauge bismuth, missing about 4 rounds, and a bit of 16 gauge Heavi-Metal. I seldom hunt where non toxic shot is required. I’m hoping I never need more.

Best,
Ted

That’s kind of the point, Ted.

Every year, about this time, the same conversations come up.

Unless you hunt waterfowl, or ditch chickens on a WPA, you just don’t use many.

If a person bought a case, they would have 2 lifetimes worth of ammo.

Sometimes I think people are embarrassed by how little they shoot, and measure themselves against those who shoot 3 to 5 days a week, and reload by the thousands.

I believe RST made a mistake selling split cases years back, but that’s someone else’s problem to worry over.

A person should be honest with themselves about what their real needs are, and then do that.

My guess would be two cases of low pressure, eights in lead would probably cover most vintage shotgun guys for a couple years in most cases.
Probably 2 boxes of game loads or less.

I was given the deer rifle and a partial box of ammo from a deceased friend. Nobody in his family had any interest in hunting and his wife knew he had hunted one of my farms for several decades. His widow said he used it the last nine hunting seasons of his life. She gave it to him for his 70-th birthday. He did the same thing every year. Shot one bullet to check for point of impact being unchanged, then shot his deer with one perfectly placed shot. She said he killed one buck every year, not monster sized, but all decent bucks. The box has two loaded bullets left. I wonder if he knew his end was near? I did buy another few boxes of bullets but have not shot the rifle. I'm holding it for his recently born great grandson, on the off chance he will be interested in it. If I go before then, my son has instructions to follow through on my wishes.

My friend was an engineer and had the most organized wood working, mechanic shop and gun room you ever saw. Every thing in the right place, all tools cleaned and stored in drawers, socket sets complete, boxes of screw and bolt neatly closed and stored by size for quick use. His hand saws sharpened, chisels razor sharp, even his stacked lumber was divided by species and thickness. The man was more organized than I ever have been and my friends and family consider me a neat freak and slightly anal about organization of my stuff. And he was a good man, a good friend and solid Christian, who I wish was still here to take his single buck every year. Friends like him are rarer every day. I keep the rifle and partial box of ammo side by side as they ought to be kept and a note with the story they represent.

I have several deer rifles, 4, I think. They all came with ammunition.

Didn’t buy them. Never have shot them. Never shot a deer. One day, they will hopefully be owned by guys that will use them. I have found it to be a bit challenging to get them to a guy who will hunt deer, rather than just pawning a rifle, once he has it.

Might fall to my son, not me. We’ll have to see.

Best,
Ted

That’s why I’ve been selling rifles. I don’t want anymore. Can’t make full use of what I already have.
Here in Michigan, you can use two different categories of firearm for shooting deer. Facts are, unless you’re feeding a dog sled team, shoot a couple of does and you’ve got more meat than you can ever eat in a year until the next cycle.
It becomes harder to find places to dispose of it unless it’s fully processed, vacuum packed, with a ribbon wrapped around it.
If you have 10 rifles they mostly just sit.

Venison has been a primary protein here for at least 35-years. When the day comes where I can't use a rifle to add it to our freezer anymore, I'll be pretty disappointed. I consider elk & deer to be a whole other food group. It's lean and healthy, it tastes like nothing else, and just writing this just makes me hungry for more. It does require a bit of effort to obtain it and then prepare it properly, but the payoff is a pretty spectacular. Steaks and roasts, summer sausage, breakfast sausage, stew meat, braised shanks...& wonderful meatloaf and chilli (& burgers!) are what keeps this household running.

Our’s too.


I am actually glad I am not burdened with having to shoot multiple elk or red deer per year.

There’s just an element of reality do it.

There are only two aging adults in our house. We enjoy a broad variety of foods. There is no economic necessity. And I am the only one that cooks game.

If I cook 1 pound of wild fish or a game, two times a week, that is a lot.

That means that over the course of the year less than 200 pounds of wild anything gets consumed.

Mostly by me.

The deer that I shoot in my yard generate 40 pounds of lean carefully trimmed meat each. Times three and a good year, that’s 120 of the 200.

That means that by October there is no more space, and I am back into sausage making mode to give free, venison away. Nobody wants ducks. I eat all those myself.

It also means that we have to forgo, all the social interactions we enjoy with others that center around a meal,. Visit to restaurants, vacations, etc, where we eat out, etc.

In short, the actual days per year that game can easily get onto the menu is hard to do twice a week.

I won’t even get into our culling efforts that almost exclusively involve old does that are sent to a dog sled lady after deboning.

For me to hoard excessive rifles at this time in my life is a burden I don’t need.
3 rifles and a muzzleloader is plenty.
That’s not a lot of ammunition to store either.

Which should illustrate a using battery versus a collection interest.