Game & Gun Gazette
Bismuth Loads Returning, from Across the Sea
As many double-gun shooters have already learned, the Bismuth Car- tridge Co. quietly closed its doors following the March death of founder Bob Petersen and failed attempts to acquire the company. Where does that leave the customers who have come to love nontoxic bismuth-tin shotshells? In a word, scrambling-at least for this year.
Existing inventory will not be replenished, and although several online retailers show current stock, we've seen reports that availability of Bismuth shells at brick-and-mortar stores is spotty at best. For reloaders who seem especially fond of the pellets because they're soft on old barrels and lead-like in flight, circumstances are worse: At press time Precision Reloading and Midway USA were out; Ballistic Products was offering a few remaining BB-size pellets.
The good news is that limited amounts of bismuth-loaded shells are on their way from British shotshell maker Eley Hawk, Ltd., which in recent years has loaded the shells that Bismuth Cartridge has sold here. Unfortunately, the fresh shipments are headed for ranges, clubs and other private shooting grounds that can order large lots. If bismuth loads become available again for the average US consumer, it will be well into 2008.
Ken Levin, the former Director of Operations for Bismuth Cartridge, has formed the KML Group, LLC, to represent Eley Hawk, Ltd., and serve his former accounts with both Eley bismuth and lead shells. With Bismuth loads, minimum orders begin at 5,000 rounds for each load (for example, 5,000 rounds of 23/4" 12-gauge No. 6s). Levin said he's just not set up to handle hundreds of small orders from retail accounts.
"Eley Hawk, Ltd., had made all of BCC's shotshell products for the past six years-some loadings even longer-everything from .410 to 10-gauge 31/2". They have truly refined the product to where I believe it is the best nontoxic shotshell product available," Levin said.
The demise of Bismuth Cartridge left Levin-and Eley Hawk-no time to make other arrangements. Big catalogs and retailers, Levin said, which might have placed orders for Eley Hawk bismuth products already had made their plans for '07. Levin said he believes American retailers will order a sufficient number of bismuth shells that Eley Hawk will stock inventories here to serve commercial accounts. He hopes to facilitate that process through KML Group. Although Levin's firm will represent Eley in the US, Eley's sister company and US agent, Rio Ammunition, will import the shells.
For now, buyers willing to order at least 5,000 rounds of a particular load can arrange bismuth purchases through Levin, who can be reached at 972-304-8818; kkss438@tx.rr.com. Levin also can order smaller lots of Eley's standard lead offerings. The full line of Eley shotshells can be seen at www.eleyhawkltd.com.
-Ed Carroll
New London Factory for Watson Bros.
London gunmaker Watson Bros. has relocated its fac- tory from the south bank of the Thames to be closer to the center of the city and the financial district.
Last October Watson's left its factory at 39 Redcross Way, near London Bridge, and moved uptown to 54 Redchurch Street, in the Shoreditch district of East London. "Our new neighborhood is known as an arts area," said company owner Michael Louca. "It's only a five-minute walk to the City, the heart of London's financial district. Obviously this places us much closer to many customers and potential customers."
Louca has retained ownership of 39 Redcross, renting it to an architectural/design firm, and has purchased the four-story Victorian building at Redchurch. He since has converted the upper floors into residential flats and an office and turned the ground floor into Watson's workshop. "Aside from being a far better location," Louca said, "Redchurch also makes a better factory, as it has solid floors more suited to housing machinery and expanded gunmaking operations."
Watson Bros., originally established in 1885, is today noted for its svelte round-bodied sidelock smallbores as well as its innovative, lightweight over/unders that are built in-house (see "A Little London Big-Bore," Nov/Dec '05). The new factory heralds several new directions for Watson's. "For one, we'll now be selling our own cartridges and accessories," Louca said. "We're also beginning to build a number of 'theme-based' guns-specially engraved guns with specific motifs. The first was called 'The Pheasant Gun' and has been very popular."
Louca also has made additional investments in equipment-a new milling machine and spark eroder-and continues to refine Watson's manufacturing process to improve its efficiency and speed delivery of guns. His goal is to make deliveries in less than one year.
As has been the case over the past decade, he also continues to recruit and train new gunmakers, something vitally important to the future of the British gun trade. "I'm very excited to announce that the Gunmaker's Company Charitable Trust has decided to sponsor an apprenticeship program at Watson Bros.," Louca said. The Trust was established recently to provide financial support for the development of craft skills in the English gun trade as well as to support various welfare causes associated with the latter.
Watson's new workshop and offices are located near the Liverpool Street Tube Station, and Louca encourages visitors by appointment. For more information, contact Watson Bros., 01144-207-033-0003; www.watsonbrosgunmakers.com.
-Vic Venters
Galazan Introduces New Gun Cases
The search for a suitable shotgun case for airline travel can be a frustrating exercise in compromise, especially if in your budget, like mine, the sky is not the limit. When I started traveling, I quickly realized that the cases I was using were better suited to river trips and pickup trucks and to the guns I'd carried before I began upgrading to better doubles. But when I started looking for better travel cases, they were either wildly expensive or surprisingly flimsy.
Top priorities, for me, were a case's strength and the safe passage of its contents. Next was affordability. Appearances were a distant third, and that's where compromise ruled. I ended up getting a rugged case that didn't cost too much-and looked it. If Galazan's new World's Finest Aluminum Case had been available at the time, I would have a travel case that meets the first two requirements and has a fit and finish that beats any competitor near the price.
Galazan's recently introduced cases-one for a break-down shotgun (333/4" [l] x 11" [w] x 43/4" [d], 15 pounds) and one for rifles (501/2" x 111/2" x 41/2", 20 pounds)-are framed in heavy aircraft-grade aluminum and fully welded at the corners. The solid edges are polished and nicely beveled as the case halves transition toward flat panels, adding rigidity without extra metal. The aluminum-plate panels are interlocked to the frame, ruggedly stiff and nicely finished in a textured gray coating. At the back, the case halves are joined by a full-length hinge for strength, and the top and bottom meet with a rubber seal that keeps out dust and moisture. The shotgun case has two locking draw latches, and the rifle case has four. Each has a combination-lock hasp under the carrying handle.
The cases' interiors are filled with special shock-absorbing material and lined in maroon velour. The packing spaces are left large enough to accommodate a variety of guns, which are strapped in with hook-and-loop closures. Any extra space can be packed with soft goods. There are also storage compartments inside each case.
World's finest aluminum cases? Well, maybe... One of the greatest gun-case values going is a more objective claim: The shotgun case is just $220 plus shipping; the rifle case is $270.
For more information, contact Galazan at 860-225-6581; www.connecticutshotgun.com.
-Ed Carroll
Hobie Mirage, High-Tech Sneakboat
When I first spied the Hobie Mirage it was floating amid a sea of gear at the SHOT Show, the massive trade show for all things hunting. That it stood out at all amid the chaos of the expansive show floor is noteworthy. The Hobie Mirage is that different.
Hobie's Mirage line is a range of sit-on-top kayaks that caught my eye as great for sneaking or pass-shooting ducks on the marshes, ponds and meandering rivers near my home. I'd seen the simple hull style before; what was new was a pair of pedals a leg's length in front of the seat. Underneath the hull was no silly paddlewheel but a pair of sleek flippers hinged at the boat's centerline, where they swept from side to side. Hobie's patented Mirage Drive system transmits power from the user's legs through the forward-and-back motion of the pedals to the "sails" under the hull; the sails each reverse the orientation of their hydrofoil arc on alternate strokes, providing forward propulsion with each sweep. The result is so powerfully efficient that the setup's designer out-pulled an Olympic-medalist kayaker in a tug-of-war. The floor model showed a gun mounted on a rack beside the seat, and I saw the possibilities: low boat, moving silently, hands-free, shotgun at the ready... But would the kayak prove stable enough for safety in the nasty weather of waterfowl season?
I arranged to test a 13' 6" Mirage Revolution with Hobie's dealer representative for the Northeast, who explained how to set up the boat and added that the gun rack was actually a Kolpin Gear Grip, an aftermarket item available through certain online retailers. I would have the option of either holding the gun or slipping it securely under cargo bungees snugged to the hull fore and aft. The 59-pound hull is molded polyethylene and built to last. At that weight it's a little awkward to load and move-although no more so than a canoe-and Hobie makes a slick cart accessory that slips two wheels right into the hull. There are ample cargo hatches for everything needed for a full day on the water.
I donned a PFD, launched at a two-mile-long lake, and headed out into a mild chop with an over/under cradled in my right arm and resting on my lap. The boat's ergonomics and controls proved comfortable and intuitive. The seat is reclined at just the right angle, and the drive system adjusts for leg length. The rudder control is a lever at the user's left hand, and the steering responds well, though a little less so from a standstill. The boat is quite stable and feels like you'd have to make a major mistake to fall out or truly dump it.
At the head of the lake I entered the sheltered main channel of the feeder river, where my progress was fast and nearly silent. Weed- and grass-choked marshy areas made for more complicated navigation, for although the drive blades, tucked up near the hull, can propel in shallows by short strokes, the stern-mounted rudder requires a bigger turning arc than canoeists are used to. Also, there is no propulsion in reverse.
It was late in the season, and we'd enjoyed some great mornings of pass-shooting along this river. I watched a pair of mallards fly upriver and drop in, perhaps a quarter-mile ahead; minutes later another trio did the same. I knew I was going to catch them around a couple of bends.
I hugged the inside bank along the final bend, finning slowly with gun at the ready. I heard a lot of ducks, but rather than being where I'd expected them, they were holed up in a backwater straight ahead of me. They were encircled by an alder-choked shore that gave rise to towering evergreens, with their only way out being straight up or over my head. I let the current slide me into the opening, where I saw more than 30 mallards no more than 30 yards away. They were feeding, swimming and preening, and, miraculously, if any of them saw me sitting there, they remained calm. I pedaled slowly upstream again, putting the shield of a grass bank between us. Unbelievable!
I committed to slipping down again, and when the current pushed me into view this time, I tapped the side of the boat with the gunstock. In the ensuing pandemonium, I was surprisingly calm. I chose a drake rising on a path straight toward me, and he fell dead just in front of the boat. I chose another from a slightly different angle and fired as he rose straight over me; he fell past me into the main channel. Two shots, two fat drakes for the table.
Unfortunately, I wasn't able to keep the boat. At something north of $1,800, it's a bit of an investment and well worth test-driving at a dealership to see if it's right for your hunting waters. I'm sure it would do fantastic summer duty sneaking toward holding fish, and Hobie's done an excellent job making a special line fitted with anglers' accoutrements.
For more information, visit www.hobie.com.
-Ed Carroll
Putting the Fun Back Into Shooting - 3/4 Oz at a Time
Alchemy is alive and well. If you don't think so, just check the latest lead prices. Couple rising lead prices with $3 a gallon for gas, and I fear you will find that many shooters feel like I do: Traveling for competition just isn't in the fiscal cards. But I will shoot for fun.
What keeps shooting from being fun? Recoil is number one on my list. Expense is number two. That was my approach when I started dumping a miserly 3/4 oz of shot into my 12-gauge reloads. The change was prompted by two observations: First, did you ever notice how everybody always talks about 28-gauge loads breaking targets so hard? And second, I've shot 7/8-oz loads for years, and I never missed 1/8 oz of shot as I worked my way down incrementally from 11/8-oz loads.
My pet load evolved into 3/4 oz of No. 71/2s with 18.5 grains of Titewad powder for a rather quick 1,330 fps. Although some argue the value of speed in a pellet, I love it. Fast loads hit quicker and harder. The gray AAL Winchester wad or the Downrange pink XXL are interchangeable. Fiocchi 209s have become the primers of choice at about $40 a brick less than my longtime favorite Winchesters. A Remington hull with a .060" crimp completes the package. Pressure is in the vicinity of 7,500 psi, low enough that switching primers and wads offers meaningless variation.
Recoil by the numbers:
81/4-pound gun = 12 foot-pounds
71/2-pound gun = 13.2 foot-pounds
7-pound gun = 14 foot-pounds
A six-pound gun firing 3/4-oz 28-gauge loads at 1,200 fps develops 13 foot-pounds of recoil, so the recoil from these 12-gauge loads is comparable to that experienced with a typically light 28-gauge gun.
Performance? Pretty amazing. Make no mistake; pattern sizes are not as big as those of the heavier loads. More precise gun pointing is in order. Do that and these little buggers will rip targets at 50 yards. Skip the tendency to think that chokes need to be tightened. The shot column is barely more than a half-inch long and incredibly kind to pellets. Think "open up." I was breaking targets hard consistently at 40 yards with threads (Cylinder choke) the week before writing this. I can't imagine a more efficient load.
My arthritic jaw and shoulder don't even know these lightweight loads are going off in my Beretta 391. You bet I'm having fun. Less shot, cheaper primers and less-expensive powder all mean I'm saving about a buck a box in reloading costs. That offsets the increase in gas prices for my trip to the range. Mission accomplished.
-Dave Holmes
Readings on the Roots of the .410
A research project into the origins of the .410 cartridge for Silvio Calabi's "The 67 Gauge" (Sept/Oct) led me to two new and very different gunning-history -related books.
From early on, the .410 has been the Rodney Dangerfield of cartridges-it's everywhere but gets no respect. (A review of the then-new Winchester Model 42 in the June, 1933, American Rifleman noted that the .410's three-inch shell placed "the .410 cartridge above the category of an interesting toy.") Few books have been devoted to the .410. One of these is Tim Woodhouse's Climbing The North Face of The .410. This self-published paperback, in its revised and expanded second edition, is a 112-page collection of, in no particular order, articles, loading information, historical tidbits and other .410-related material.
Although the covers are printed in color, all other pictures and illustrations are photocopy-quality black & whites. With a postpaid price to the US of upward of $50 (fluctuating with currency exchange rates), the book seems a bit pricey, but for the .410 devotee, that's a condition, not a problem. The author is a professional engineer and a well-respected and widely read smallbore-gunning authority in the UK.
For ordering information, contact 01144-1722-716052; spitfireammunition@btopenworld.com; www.shootingbooks.co.uk.
C.W. Harding's book, Eley Cartridges-A History of the Silversmith & Ammunition Manufacturer, is not specifically about the .410 but adds important historical information about the cartridge's origins as well as, of course, the Eley company.
Eley began as a silversmith business in 1777, expanded into percussion caps and wire shot cartridges in the late 1820s, and later grew to produce loaded ammunition. After 100 years of production, Eley Bros., Ltd., was liquidated in 1928. However, the Eley name continued to be used, first by Imperial Chemical Industries and later by Imperial Metal Industries. The company became Eley Hawk, Ltd., in 1989, two years after purchasing Hawk Best, though the shotshells it currently produces may not be as well known to shooters in this country as the company's .22 rimfire ammunition. During that first century Eley produced all manner of metallic and shotshell cartridges.
Unfortunately-and for reasons not provided by the author -virtually all of the company records were destroyed.
Harding has spent years trying to reconstruct Eley's production history from catalogs, flysheets and government records. He has done an excellent job, and his 192-page book is packed with details and interesting illustrations that will be of particular appeal to cartridge collectors.
Eley Cartridges is available in the US through Safari Press, www.safaripress.com.
-Steve Helsley
"It Was a Dark and Stormy Night... "
A Journal Keeps Details Alive for Reflection
In early 1976 I innocently began keeping trapshooting notes with the date, location, yardage and score. That fall, on a Wyoming hunting trip, I chronicled daily weather, wind and other interesting observations.
Out of this grew a detailed journal of every one of my shooting activities during the past 30 years. The recollections of more than 750 days afield are recorded in two bound Boorum & Pease account books. While on trips I collect notes on scraps of paper squirreled away in my hunting coats, inscribing them later in the journal.
It amazes me now how often my memory of times past simply does not square with the record. I typically note the date, activity, location, dogs' and/or guides' names, weather, temperature, gun used, or other information that interests me about special qualities of the day. As an example:
11/22/92 Ducks-West Branch Reservoir, Ravenna, Ohio
"Jem (my retriever) and I in TDB 14', heavy fog and overcast. Eerie! Put out 21 Restle's east of Goose Island. Saw ducks but fired no shots. Picking up, became disoriented by fog. Used compass to find my way. Heard but never saw boats trolling for late-season muskies and stripers."
The journal tells me I began hunting birds exclusively in late 1981. My last non-bird hunt was September 10. With my father in the woods on our farm in southern Indiana, I shot a fox squirrel with a .22 rifle. It was cutting acorns on a red oak tree.
Beginning in 1983, I hunted quail on a South Georgia plantation for 27 days spread over nine annual trips. I used a 12-gauge Nikko, then a Ruger 20, and the last few years a Remington pump 28, whereupon my success dropped from 70 percent to 40 percent. I hunted over 80 different pointing dogs with 16 different handlers. I recorded with enthusiasm the meals of smothered quail, fried catfish, collards and biscuits with fig preserves. I endured rain, fog, tornados, freezing jeep rides and beautiful 80-degree shirtsleeve afternoons. I had one gun malfunction and ran out of chewing tobacco twice. I relive those trips near Albany through my notes:
11/5/92 Quail-Riverview Plantation, Hopeful, Georgia
"Hunted with Merrill, guide Kenny, and dogs Bee, Minnie, Kit, Gail, Spot and Ginger. Rained all night, but the birds flew well. Shot with 40-percent accuracy. Total for our jeep was 34 birds. Completely rain soaked."
I have hunted waterfowl seriously for more than 40 years: Illinois, Indiana, Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Ontario and Saskatchewan. My peak season was 1981-'82 in Southeast Texas, when my partner and I bagged 83 ducks and 70 geese in 27 mornings in an era of larger limits. On the other hand, in 1976 I leased a pothole off of the Illinois River, hunted 12 times and shot only one bird. The birds flew high all season, and apparently every season, which is why the lease was available.
Upon purchasing a pup, I record the age, registered name, breeder, sire and dam, and purchase price. The first, last and special retrieves are noted. And the death is also there.
12/20/84 "Found 'Bo' dead in his kennel this morning! Didn't come when I brought out water and food. Saw him lying on his side. This may be the saddest day of my life.
"Lynch's Hot Ralston Rambo
"AKC %23SD100986
"3/20/79-12/20/84
"First hunt: 11/18/79
"Last hunt: 12/8/84"
After all these years, it is still hard to read those lines.
My wife insists my love of hunting is driven, in large part, by the need for the associated equipment, ropes and tools, making me a kindred spirit of the late Gene Hill. The journal documents my use of various decoys, sneakboxes, duckboats, waders, parkas, gloves and hats, yet I have used the same pair of Chippewa boots for upland hunting for 25 years. And the guns! Although I have many rifles and shotguns (all listed in the journal, with purchase date, cost, model and serial number), my main waterfowling guns number only two: both 12-gauge pumps. I shoot neither particularly well, neither particularly poorly. My average number of shots per duck decreased in the '90s, reflecting my decision to take fewer, closer shots. Regulations forcing the use of steel shot didn't seem to affect my performance. I have a large collection of duck calls, but my success improved when in the '80s I switched to those made by Paul Kingyon.
My journal is filled with anecdotes. Dogs defecating in the boat; seeing the aurora borealis; a sheriff's posse chasing a convict (honest to God); a dog warming his testicles on the boat's forward running light; an alligator clamping onto the knee of a partner, who forever after became known as Gator; seeing deer swimming across big lakes (three different times); a cook shooting a cottonmouth through the kitchen screen door of a Louisiana camp; an Amish guide; hunting with golfer Johnny Miller; and spying a musky in the decoys.
There are also poignant entries:
5/15/01 "Joe Grimm called. Tom Kondrk was found dead in his cabin. Almost 54, he was college educated but worked as a plumber. Loud, opinionated and often a 'pain in the ass,' he loved to teach duck calling. A friend we all shall miss. A niece was his heir and took Tom's ashes and Lab back to New York State."
The journal records my joys, successes, sadness and recollections. By keeping it, I have preserved a part of myself. I would encourage all thoughtful sportsmen to do the same. You will become more reflective toward the sport and learn a lot about yourself.
-William Lynch
As many double-gun shooters have already learned, the Bismuth Car- tridge Co. quietly closed its doors following the March death of founder Bob Petersen and failed attempts to acquire the company. Where does that leave the customers who have come to love nontoxic bismuth-tin shotshells? In a word, scrambling-at least for this year.
Existing inventory will not be replenished, and although several online retailers show current stock, we've seen reports that availability of Bismuth shells at brick-and-mortar stores is spotty at best. For reloaders who seem especially fond of the pellets because they're soft on old barrels and lead-like in flight, circumstances are worse: At press time Precision Reloading and Midway USA were out; Ballistic Products was offering a few remaining BB-size pellets.
The good news is that limited amounts of bismuth-loaded shells are on their way from British shotshell maker Eley Hawk, Ltd., which in recent years has loaded the shells that Bismuth Cartridge has sold here. Unfortunately, the fresh shipments are headed for ranges, clubs and other private shooting grounds that can order large lots. If bismuth loads become available again for the average US consumer, it will be well into 2008.
Ken Levin, the former Director of Operations for Bismuth Cartridge, has formed the KML Group, LLC, to represent Eley Hawk, Ltd., and serve his former accounts with both Eley bismuth and lead shells. With Bismuth loads, minimum orders begin at 5,000 rounds for each load (for example, 5,000 rounds of 23/4" 12-gauge No. 6s). Levin said he's just not set up to handle hundreds of small orders from retail accounts.
"Eley Hawk, Ltd., had made all of BCC's shotshell products for the past six years-some loadings even longer-everything from .410 to 10-gauge 31/2". They have truly refined the product to where I believe it is the best nontoxic shotshell product available," Levin said.
The demise of Bismuth Cartridge left Levin-and Eley Hawk-no time to make other arrangements. Big catalogs and retailers, Levin said, which might have placed orders for Eley Hawk bismuth products already had made their plans for '07. Levin said he believes American retailers will order a sufficient number of bismuth shells that Eley Hawk will stock inventories here to serve commercial accounts. He hopes to facilitate that process through KML Group. Although Levin's firm will represent Eley in the US, Eley's sister company and US agent, Rio Ammunition, will import the shells.
For now, buyers willing to order at least 5,000 rounds of a particular load can arrange bismuth purchases through Levin, who can be reached at 972-304-8818; kkss438@tx.rr.com. Levin also can order smaller lots of Eley's standard lead offerings. The full line of Eley shotshells can be seen at www.eleyhawkltd.com.
-Ed Carroll
New London Factory for Watson Bros.
London gunmaker Watson Bros. has relocated its fac- tory from the south bank of the Thames to be closer to the center of the city and the financial district.
Last October Watson's left its factory at 39 Redcross Way, near London Bridge, and moved uptown to 54 Redchurch Street, in the Shoreditch district of East London. "Our new neighborhood is known as an arts area," said company owner Michael Louca. "It's only a five-minute walk to the City, the heart of London's financial district. Obviously this places us much closer to many customers and potential customers."
Louca has retained ownership of 39 Redcross, renting it to an architectural/design firm, and has purchased the four-story Victorian building at Redchurch. He since has converted the upper floors into residential flats and an office and turned the ground floor into Watson's workshop. "Aside from being a far better location," Louca said, "Redchurch also makes a better factory, as it has solid floors more suited to housing machinery and expanded gunmaking operations."
Watson Bros., originally established in 1885, is today noted for its svelte round-bodied sidelock smallbores as well as its innovative, lightweight over/unders that are built in-house (see "A Little London Big-Bore," Nov/Dec '05). The new factory heralds several new directions for Watson's. "For one, we'll now be selling our own cartridges and accessories," Louca said. "We're also beginning to build a number of 'theme-based' guns-specially engraved guns with specific motifs. The first was called 'The Pheasant Gun' and has been very popular."
Louca also has made additional investments in equipment-a new milling machine and spark eroder-and continues to refine Watson's manufacturing process to improve its efficiency and speed delivery of guns. His goal is to make deliveries in less than one year.
As has been the case over the past decade, he also continues to recruit and train new gunmakers, something vitally important to the future of the British gun trade. "I'm very excited to announce that the Gunmaker's Company Charitable Trust has decided to sponsor an apprenticeship program at Watson Bros.," Louca said. The Trust was established recently to provide financial support for the development of craft skills in the English gun trade as well as to support various welfare causes associated with the latter.
Watson's new workshop and offices are located near the Liverpool Street Tube Station, and Louca encourages visitors by appointment. For more information, contact Watson Bros., 01144-207-033-0003; www.watsonbrosgunmakers.com.
-Vic Venters
Galazan Introduces New Gun Cases
The search for a suitable shotgun case for airline travel can be a frustrating exercise in compromise, especially if in your budget, like mine, the sky is not the limit. When I started traveling, I quickly realized that the cases I was using were better suited to river trips and pickup trucks and to the guns I'd carried before I began upgrading to better doubles. But when I started looking for better travel cases, they were either wildly expensive or surprisingly flimsy.
Top priorities, for me, were a case's strength and the safe passage of its contents. Next was affordability. Appearances were a distant third, and that's where compromise ruled. I ended up getting a rugged case that didn't cost too much-and looked it. If Galazan's new World's Finest Aluminum Case had been available at the time, I would have a travel case that meets the first two requirements and has a fit and finish that beats any competitor near the price.
Galazan's recently introduced cases-one for a break-down shotgun (333/4" [l] x 11" [w] x 43/4" [d], 15 pounds) and one for rifles (501/2" x 111/2" x 41/2", 20 pounds)-are framed in heavy aircraft-grade aluminum and fully welded at the corners. The solid edges are polished and nicely beveled as the case halves transition toward flat panels, adding rigidity without extra metal. The aluminum-plate panels are interlocked to the frame, ruggedly stiff and nicely finished in a textured gray coating. At the back, the case halves are joined by a full-length hinge for strength, and the top and bottom meet with a rubber seal that keeps out dust and moisture. The shotgun case has two locking draw latches, and the rifle case has four. Each has a combination-lock hasp under the carrying handle.
The cases' interiors are filled with special shock-absorbing material and lined in maroon velour. The packing spaces are left large enough to accommodate a variety of guns, which are strapped in with hook-and-loop closures. Any extra space can be packed with soft goods. There are also storage compartments inside each case.
World's finest aluminum cases? Well, maybe... One of the greatest gun-case values going is a more objective claim: The shotgun case is just $220 plus shipping; the rifle case is $270.
For more information, contact Galazan at 860-225-6581; www.connecticutshotgun.com.
-Ed Carroll
Hobie Mirage, High-Tech Sneakboat
When I first spied the Hobie Mirage it was floating amid a sea of gear at the SHOT Show, the massive trade show for all things hunting. That it stood out at all amid the chaos of the expansive show floor is noteworthy. The Hobie Mirage is that different.
Hobie's Mirage line is a range of sit-on-top kayaks that caught my eye as great for sneaking or pass-shooting ducks on the marshes, ponds and meandering rivers near my home. I'd seen the simple hull style before; what was new was a pair of pedals a leg's length in front of the seat. Underneath the hull was no silly paddlewheel but a pair of sleek flippers hinged at the boat's centerline, where they swept from side to side. Hobie's patented Mirage Drive system transmits power from the user's legs through the forward-and-back motion of the pedals to the "sails" under the hull; the sails each reverse the orientation of their hydrofoil arc on alternate strokes, providing forward propulsion with each sweep. The result is so powerfully efficient that the setup's designer out-pulled an Olympic-medalist kayaker in a tug-of-war. The floor model showed a gun mounted on a rack beside the seat, and I saw the possibilities: low boat, moving silently, hands-free, shotgun at the ready... But would the kayak prove stable enough for safety in the nasty weather of waterfowl season?
I arranged to test a 13' 6" Mirage Revolution with Hobie's dealer representative for the Northeast, who explained how to set up the boat and added that the gun rack was actually a Kolpin Gear Grip, an aftermarket item available through certain online retailers. I would have the option of either holding the gun or slipping it securely under cargo bungees snugged to the hull fore and aft. The 59-pound hull is molded polyethylene and built to last. At that weight it's a little awkward to load and move-although no more so than a canoe-and Hobie makes a slick cart accessory that slips two wheels right into the hull. There are ample cargo hatches for everything needed for a full day on the water.
I donned a PFD, launched at a two-mile-long lake, and headed out into a mild chop with an over/under cradled in my right arm and resting on my lap. The boat's ergonomics and controls proved comfortable and intuitive. The seat is reclined at just the right angle, and the drive system adjusts for leg length. The rudder control is a lever at the user's left hand, and the steering responds well, though a little less so from a standstill. The boat is quite stable and feels like you'd have to make a major mistake to fall out or truly dump it.
At the head of the lake I entered the sheltered main channel of the feeder river, where my progress was fast and nearly silent. Weed- and grass-choked marshy areas made for more complicated navigation, for although the drive blades, tucked up near the hull, can propel in shallows by short strokes, the stern-mounted rudder requires a bigger turning arc than canoeists are used to. Also, there is no propulsion in reverse.
It was late in the season, and we'd enjoyed some great mornings of pass-shooting along this river. I watched a pair of mallards fly upriver and drop in, perhaps a quarter-mile ahead; minutes later another trio did the same. I knew I was going to catch them around a couple of bends.
I hugged the inside bank along the final bend, finning slowly with gun at the ready. I heard a lot of ducks, but rather than being where I'd expected them, they were holed up in a backwater straight ahead of me. They were encircled by an alder-choked shore that gave rise to towering evergreens, with their only way out being straight up or over my head. I let the current slide me into the opening, where I saw more than 30 mallards no more than 30 yards away. They were feeding, swimming and preening, and, miraculously, if any of them saw me sitting there, they remained calm. I pedaled slowly upstream again, putting the shield of a grass bank between us. Unbelievable!
I committed to slipping down again, and when the current pushed me into view this time, I tapped the side of the boat with the gunstock. In the ensuing pandemonium, I was surprisingly calm. I chose a drake rising on a path straight toward me, and he fell dead just in front of the boat. I chose another from a slightly different angle and fired as he rose straight over me; he fell past me into the main channel. Two shots, two fat drakes for the table.
Unfortunately, I wasn't able to keep the boat. At something north of $1,800, it's a bit of an investment and well worth test-driving at a dealership to see if it's right for your hunting waters. I'm sure it would do fantastic summer duty sneaking toward holding fish, and Hobie's done an excellent job making a special line fitted with anglers' accoutrements.
For more information, visit www.hobie.com.
-Ed Carroll
Putting the Fun Back Into Shooting - 3/4 Oz at a Time
Alchemy is alive and well. If you don't think so, just check the latest lead prices. Couple rising lead prices with $3 a gallon for gas, and I fear you will find that many shooters feel like I do: Traveling for competition just isn't in the fiscal cards. But I will shoot for fun.
What keeps shooting from being fun? Recoil is number one on my list. Expense is number two. That was my approach when I started dumping a miserly 3/4 oz of shot into my 12-gauge reloads. The change was prompted by two observations: First, did you ever notice how everybody always talks about 28-gauge loads breaking targets so hard? And second, I've shot 7/8-oz loads for years, and I never missed 1/8 oz of shot as I worked my way down incrementally from 11/8-oz loads.
My pet load evolved into 3/4 oz of No. 71/2s with 18.5 grains of Titewad powder for a rather quick 1,330 fps. Although some argue the value of speed in a pellet, I love it. Fast loads hit quicker and harder. The gray AAL Winchester wad or the Downrange pink XXL are interchangeable. Fiocchi 209s have become the primers of choice at about $40 a brick less than my longtime favorite Winchesters. A Remington hull with a .060" crimp completes the package. Pressure is in the vicinity of 7,500 psi, low enough that switching primers and wads offers meaningless variation.
Recoil by the numbers:
81/4-pound gun = 12 foot-pounds
71/2-pound gun = 13.2 foot-pounds
7-pound gun = 14 foot-pounds
A six-pound gun firing 3/4-oz 28-gauge loads at 1,200 fps develops 13 foot-pounds of recoil, so the recoil from these 12-gauge loads is comparable to that experienced with a typically light 28-gauge gun.
Performance? Pretty amazing. Make no mistake; pattern sizes are not as big as those of the heavier loads. More precise gun pointing is in order. Do that and these little buggers will rip targets at 50 yards. Skip the tendency to think that chokes need to be tightened. The shot column is barely more than a half-inch long and incredibly kind to pellets. Think "open up." I was breaking targets hard consistently at 40 yards with threads (Cylinder choke) the week before writing this. I can't imagine a more efficient load.
My arthritic jaw and shoulder don't even know these lightweight loads are going off in my Beretta 391. You bet I'm having fun. Less shot, cheaper primers and less-expensive powder all mean I'm saving about a buck a box in reloading costs. That offsets the increase in gas prices for my trip to the range. Mission accomplished.
-Dave Holmes
Readings on the Roots of the .410
A research project into the origins of the .410 cartridge for Silvio Calabi's "The 67 Gauge" (Sept/Oct) led me to two new and very different gunning-history -related books.
From early on, the .410 has been the Rodney Dangerfield of cartridges-it's everywhere but gets no respect. (A review of the then-new Winchester Model 42 in the June, 1933, American Rifleman noted that the .410's three-inch shell placed "the .410 cartridge above the category of an interesting toy.") Few books have been devoted to the .410. One of these is Tim Woodhouse's Climbing The North Face of The .410. This self-published paperback, in its revised and expanded second edition, is a 112-page collection of, in no particular order, articles, loading information, historical tidbits and other .410-related material.
Although the covers are printed in color, all other pictures and illustrations are photocopy-quality black & whites. With a postpaid price to the US of upward of $50 (fluctuating with currency exchange rates), the book seems a bit pricey, but for the .410 devotee, that's a condition, not a problem. The author is a professional engineer and a well-respected and widely read smallbore-gunning authority in the UK.
For ordering information, contact 01144-1722-716052; spitfireammunition@btopenworld.com; www.shootingbooks.co.uk.
C.W. Harding's book, Eley Cartridges-A History of the Silversmith & Ammunition Manufacturer, is not specifically about the .410 but adds important historical information about the cartridge's origins as well as, of course, the Eley company.
Eley began as a silversmith business in 1777, expanded into percussion caps and wire shot cartridges in the late 1820s, and later grew to produce loaded ammunition. After 100 years of production, Eley Bros., Ltd., was liquidated in 1928. However, the Eley name continued to be used, first by Imperial Chemical Industries and later by Imperial Metal Industries. The company became Eley Hawk, Ltd., in 1989, two years after purchasing Hawk Best, though the shotshells it currently produces may not be as well known to shooters in this country as the company's .22 rimfire ammunition. During that first century Eley produced all manner of metallic and shotshell cartridges.
Unfortunately-and for reasons not provided by the author -virtually all of the company records were destroyed.
Harding has spent years trying to reconstruct Eley's production history from catalogs, flysheets and government records. He has done an excellent job, and his 192-page book is packed with details and interesting illustrations that will be of particular appeal to cartridge collectors.
Eley Cartridges is available in the US through Safari Press, www.safaripress.com.
-Steve Helsley
"It Was a Dark and Stormy Night... "
A Journal Keeps Details Alive for Reflection
In early 1976 I innocently began keeping trapshooting notes with the date, location, yardage and score. That fall, on a Wyoming hunting trip, I chronicled daily weather, wind and other interesting observations.
Out of this grew a detailed journal of every one of my shooting activities during the past 30 years. The recollections of more than 750 days afield are recorded in two bound Boorum & Pease account books. While on trips I collect notes on scraps of paper squirreled away in my hunting coats, inscribing them later in the journal.
It amazes me now how often my memory of times past simply does not square with the record. I typically note the date, activity, location, dogs' and/or guides' names, weather, temperature, gun used, or other information that interests me about special qualities of the day. As an example:
11/22/92 Ducks-West Branch Reservoir, Ravenna, Ohio
"Jem (my retriever) and I in TDB 14', heavy fog and overcast. Eerie! Put out 21 Restle's east of Goose Island. Saw ducks but fired no shots. Picking up, became disoriented by fog. Used compass to find my way. Heard but never saw boats trolling for late-season muskies and stripers."
The journal tells me I began hunting birds exclusively in late 1981. My last non-bird hunt was September 10. With my father in the woods on our farm in southern Indiana, I shot a fox squirrel with a .22 rifle. It was cutting acorns on a red oak tree.
Beginning in 1983, I hunted quail on a South Georgia plantation for 27 days spread over nine annual trips. I used a 12-gauge Nikko, then a Ruger 20, and the last few years a Remington pump 28, whereupon my success dropped from 70 percent to 40 percent. I hunted over 80 different pointing dogs with 16 different handlers. I recorded with enthusiasm the meals of smothered quail, fried catfish, collards and biscuits with fig preserves. I endured rain, fog, tornados, freezing jeep rides and beautiful 80-degree shirtsleeve afternoons. I had one gun malfunction and ran out of chewing tobacco twice. I relive those trips near Albany through my notes:
11/5/92 Quail-Riverview Plantation, Hopeful, Georgia
"Hunted with Merrill, guide Kenny, and dogs Bee, Minnie, Kit, Gail, Spot and Ginger. Rained all night, but the birds flew well. Shot with 40-percent accuracy. Total for our jeep was 34 birds. Completely rain soaked."
I have hunted waterfowl seriously for more than 40 years: Illinois, Indiana, Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Ontario and Saskatchewan. My peak season was 1981-'82 in Southeast Texas, when my partner and I bagged 83 ducks and 70 geese in 27 mornings in an era of larger limits. On the other hand, in 1976 I leased a pothole off of the Illinois River, hunted 12 times and shot only one bird. The birds flew high all season, and apparently every season, which is why the lease was available.
Upon purchasing a pup, I record the age, registered name, breeder, sire and dam, and purchase price. The first, last and special retrieves are noted. And the death is also there.
12/20/84 "Found 'Bo' dead in his kennel this morning! Didn't come when I brought out water and food. Saw him lying on his side. This may be the saddest day of my life.
"Lynch's Hot Ralston Rambo
"AKC %23SD100986
"3/20/79-12/20/84
"First hunt: 11/18/79
"Last hunt: 12/8/84"
After all these years, it is still hard to read those lines.
My wife insists my love of hunting is driven, in large part, by the need for the associated equipment, ropes and tools, making me a kindred spirit of the late Gene Hill. The journal documents my use of various decoys, sneakboxes, duckboats, waders, parkas, gloves and hats, yet I have used the same pair of Chippewa boots for upland hunting for 25 years. And the guns! Although I have many rifles and shotguns (all listed in the journal, with purchase date, cost, model and serial number), my main waterfowling guns number only two: both 12-gauge pumps. I shoot neither particularly well, neither particularly poorly. My average number of shots per duck decreased in the '90s, reflecting my decision to take fewer, closer shots. Regulations forcing the use of steel shot didn't seem to affect my performance. I have a large collection of duck calls, but my success improved when in the '80s I switched to those made by Paul Kingyon.
My journal is filled with anecdotes. Dogs defecating in the boat; seeing the aurora borealis; a sheriff's posse chasing a convict (honest to God); a dog warming his testicles on the boat's forward running light; an alligator clamping onto the knee of a partner, who forever after became known as Gator; seeing deer swimming across big lakes (three different times); a cook shooting a cottonmouth through the kitchen screen door of a Louisiana camp; an Amish guide; hunting with golfer Johnny Miller; and spying a musky in the decoys.
There are also poignant entries:
5/15/01 "Joe Grimm called. Tom Kondrk was found dead in his cabin. Almost 54, he was college educated but worked as a plumber. Loud, opinionated and often a 'pain in the ass,' he loved to teach duck calling. A friend we all shall miss. A niece was his heir and took Tom's ashes and Lab back to New York State."
The journal records my joys, successes, sadness and recollections. By keeping it, I have preserved a part of myself. I would encourage all thoughtful sportsmen to do the same. You will become more reflective toward the sport and learn a lot about yourself.
-William Lynch
