What did you do today?

[Wapiti]

Great you helped out a mate who's busted so he can get out and have a blast, mate. What real Aussies do.
Bloomin' hot though eh? This heatwave coming through central SA into central/north NSW and crossing the border and harassing us is here. 40 deg, today under the roof out back, gonna peak midweek coming. Far out.

[bladeracer]

Great you helped out a mate who's busted so he can get out and have a blast, mate. What real Aussies do.
Bloomin' hot though eh? This heatwave coming through central SA into central/north NSW and crossing the border and harassing us is here. 40 deg, today under the roof out back, gonna peak midweek coming. Far out.

He was really missing his Cowboy Action. Instead of the usual 90 minutes of driving today it made it three hours and 40 minutes of driving, but we both had a blast so it was worth it

Yep, hot down here too, though nowhere near 40 today, probably around 35 I'd guess - they're offering us 38 on Tuesday. Got a phone call at 2045 to say we had two cows out so we've just been out to get them back into the paddock, bloody cows

[Wapiti]

Bloody dogs were a bit riled up, so I went out the back tonight 10pm and was chucking a bit of mince to the Tawny Frogmouth.
About 100m across the little yard dam, was this damn tom cat by the light of the Javelot.
What a mess... get to the gun safe. Get the gun, balance on legs. Get the bolt from the bolt rack. Find the magazine. No, that's the 22 mag one, not the 17. No torch on the gun, bugger. I'll hold it off with the left hand and forend at the same time. No rest, bugger. It's starting to go.
Wasn't a clean shot, but moving offhand whilst trying to get the torch lined up, success anyway. He was dead by the time I got up there.
17 HMR Ruger American with Rem 17gn gold tips. 3-9x40 Leupold "Rimfire" scope.

FknCat25126.jpg (694.19 KiB) Viewed 18218 times

[bladeracer]

We're putting a couple of two-year-old cows into the freezer on Thursday. Now that it's cooled down this evening we're going up to get them in the trailer to bring them back to the house block. Shooting them at the property they're at is a little difficult as it's fairly flat with neighbours, horses and major roads on two sides, so I'd prefer to do it at the house, if we can get them into the cattle crate to bring them home.

Rose is determined to shoot them herself this time, she places great emphasis on her independence and hates having to rely on me or somebody else to do this stuff. I got out a broad selection of rifles, she's handled them and and decided the Winchester 1894 .30-30 is the most comfortable for her. I bought some .30-30 Corelokt factory ammo when I was up north (DJ took me out looking for pigs), so this should be a good test of them, hopefully I can recover the bullets for examination. She wants me to be behind her ready to back up her shot if she messes one up, I'm sure she'll nail them perfectly. So I'll use the Marlin 1894 .44 Mag, or possibly the .303, I'm undecided. One issue is the big friesian boy, he's above my eye level across the rump, if he has his head up, from Rose's level the shot is skyward, which we don't want.

I used a circular saw to section a skull for her so she can see exactly what is where and the direction the bullet needs to travel.

[Die Judicii]

Great looking cat Mate, (They always look better when they dead I reckon)
Unusual with the black bars across the gut.

[Wm.Traynor]

bladeracer,
Can you get those cattle in a yard mate? I've seen them shot with a rimfire, in a yard. A 30/30 will have more than enough grunt to penetrate a beast's skull.

[bladeracer]

bladeracer,
Can you get those cattle in a yard mate? I've seen them shot with a rimfire, in a yard. A 30/30 will have more than enough grunt to penetrate a beast's skull.

We got there at 2030, already getting dark. Unloaded the ramp and gates, opened the cattle crate to start setting up the ramp and gates to funnel them in. The big boy just jumped straight up into the crate. His little girlfriend followed him. Rose put a tub of lucerne in to keep them occupied while we dragged the ramp into place. The Last bloke didn't want to go in but also didn't want to be left behind. As soon as the ramp was in place he waltzed straight up it. Easiest load we've ever done

I don't like .22 for this stuff, seen and heard it go badly way too often. I like some overkill to ensure it goes perfectly.

We need to drop them in the paddock, where we can get the tractor to them to lift and move them for processing and putting the quarters into the fridge van.

We'll do some practicing this arvo so she's confident of the bullet going where she wants it to. She's comfortable with the lever-actions from shooting Cowboy matches with me, she's even holster qualified

The butcher is a bit pushed for time so we'll do the big boy first. If we don't get the second one done we'll do him with the big Aussie Red bitch (she's a horror of a beast and we've had enough of her crap) in a couple months.

[Die Judicii]

Doing them in the paddock while they are grazing peacefully is the best way.
Grazing peacefully one second, and dead the next.
You'll always get better meat that way rather than after they've been chased and hunted into yards and shot in a race.
They are then stressed and uptight which affects meat quality.

The butcher I used when down south used to idle up to em in an old suzuki 4x4 and pop em with a .22 out the window while they were grazing.
He never had a failure from instant death.

Whereas, I did one of my own up here in Qld, a massive Santa Gertrudis steer, with a 30/30.

The butcher concerned had a complete mobile outfit, and sat in his truck and watched while I walked out to where they were grazing.
I lined the steer up,, and at the shot it jumped about two feet off the ground and then landed brisket down with all four legs folded underneath, and never twitched a muscle.

I levered the case out, and bent over to pick it up.
As I straightened up, the steer suddenly lifted its head and stood up,,,, and shook its head, then just walked off.

The butcher laughed and yelled out,, "Ya Missed".

That steer walked and walked, and I followed feeling rather embarrased.
When it eventually stopped and resumed grazing, I lined it up a second time.
The second shot put it down permanently.

When it was butchered, we left the head next to a tree, and I went back several months later and checked it out.

The two bullet holes were clover leafed.
So,,,,,,,,,,,, go figure.

[bladeracer]

I won't tell Rose that story until after tomorrow

But I have heard similar stories. Rose's dad shot a cow here with the .22, took the rifle inside, went back out and the cow was gone. One of the guys at the pistol club shot a goat with a .22 the same way, was putting the rifle away and his wife asked if he'd decided not to shoot it. He said he'd just done it, and she asked why is it still walking around the paddock then. Lots of stories about the .22's. but also a few about much larger cartridges that should've been certain kills...but weren't.

Our butcher prefers the .243, which is very effective, and a varmint bullet is unlikely to have any significant pieces come out at speed to injure anybody.

Doing them in the paddock while they are grazing peacefully is the best way.
Grazing peacefully one second, and dead the next.
You'll always get better meat that way rather than after they've been chased and hunted into yards and shot in a race.
They are then stressed and uptight which affects meat quality.

The butcher I used when down south used to idle up to em in an old suzuki 4x4 and pop em with a .22 out the window while they were grazing.
He never had a failure from instant death.

Whereas, I did one of my own up here in Qld, a massive Santa Gertrudis steer, with a 30/30.

The butcher concerned had a complete mobile outfit, and sat in his truck and watched while I walked out to where they were grazing.
I lined the steer up,, and at the shot it jumped about two feet off the ground and then landed brisket down with all four legs folded underneath, and never twitched a muscle.

I levered the case out, and bent over to pick it up.
As I straightened up, the steer suddenly lifted its head and stood up,,,, and shook its head, then just walked off.

The butcher laughed and yelled out,, "Ya Missed".

That steer walked and walked, and I followed feeling rather embarrased.
When it eventually stopped and resumed grazing, I lined it up a second time.
The second shot put it down permanently.

When it was butchered, we left the head next to a tree, and I went back several months later and checked it out.

The two bullet holes were clover leafed.
So,,,,,,,,,,,, go figure.

[Finniss]

Years ago, i worked collecting sick and dead cattle for pet food. We used 22mag. When winchester came out with the Power Point version (no copper jacket) for a few dollars less a brick the boss grabbed a heap. Ammo use went up however as penetration reduced enough to be ineffective on some old bulls.

I know people use 22lr for years without issue but ive seen animals with significant function after subsonic 308s through the brain.

[Die Judicii]

Years ago, i worked collecting sick and dead cattle for pet food. We used 22mag. When winchester came out with the Power Point version (no copper jacket) for a few dollars less a brick the boss grabbed a heap. Ammo use went up however as penetration reduced enough to be ineffective on some old bulls.

I know people use 22lr for years without issue but ive seen animals with significant function after subsonic 308s through the brain.

Ahhhh yes,,,, As I've found out recently,,, the subs will NOT mushroom or open up to full advantage.

[bladeracer]

I've shot large calves with subsonic 7mm-08 with 145gn HotCore bullets. They weren't my animals so I wasn't able to recover the bullets, but they were certainly effective.

Ahhhh yes,,,, As I've found out recently,,, the subs will NOT mushroom or open up to full advantage.

[Wm.Traynor]

Die Judicii and bladeracer. I'm flabbergasted

[Die Judicii]

???

Or should I say,,,,,, Please Explain.

[Wapiti]

Reading all that it's great to know you blokes are all concerned about the animals welfare when dropping them for meat.

But DJ makes a great point and that's meat quality.... it's real hard to explain the difference but if you drop a beast when it's just grazing, the meat will be WAY better, but the difference os impossible to explain. But it is.
What's also great is that the cattle (or deer or whatever) are used to guns going off and it's normal to them. And also your presence walking past with a gun, because they are extremely intelligent. And your vehicle getting around... that they are used to it and that when they see it that it's a pleasant experience, for example, that you chuck them some Lucerne or similar.
So, do a bit of 22LR target shooting around them.

On the gun, I've always used a 22LR with 40gn solids. Right between the eyes from 2-3m away when they are quietly looking straight at you.
Hollow points, you don't want them, you want the bullet to break the skull and go through the brain.
The 22 magnum is just that bit more of a good thing, again with solids.
This is also great for the small -holdings owner, because a big rifle makes a helluva lot more noise.

Another thing along those lines, when shooting animals for meat, like anything wild, we ALWAYS head shoot. That snuffs out the brain instantly, so there is no stress, not even for a moment to throw a shot of adrenalin into the blood, and therefore the meat.
A chest shot animal for meat, heaven forbid one that's run a bit if lung shot, even heart shot, is never the same in eating quality. Don't believe me? Then you've never done it and compared. The old hunters chest shot is has just become the norm because of the trophy head hunting craze, or to make up for less skill-bigger target.

[Wapiti]

Oh, and shoot the gun to check its POA at a few metres away, it's always different than at 50 yards. You need to be spot on, not high or low.
It's precision, not smashing power to make up for a shot off target.

[bladeracer]

Oh, and shoot the gun to check its POA at a few metres away, it's always different than at 50 yards. You need to be spot on, not high or low.
It's precision, not smashing power to make up for a shot off target.

Rose did some practice late last night. First some dry-fire practice on the big fella, who is happy to have the muzzle rested against his head.

Then I had her shoot some paper at one-meter with the .30-30 to explain the sight-to-bore offset so she understands that the bullet will be about 20mm below where she aims. Big fire balls in the twilight, and the cows didn't care about the noise at all.

[bladeracer]

I will never be able to make sense of the US view that the best way to take animals is to deliberately wound them through the chest so you have a blood trail to follow when they take off. Take out the brain or cervical spine and you don't need a blood trail as the animal is right where you shot it.

Reading all that it's great to know you blokes are all concerned about the animals welfare when dropping them for meat.

But DJ makes a great point and that's meat quality.... it's real hard to explain the difference but if you drop a beast when it's just grazing, the meat will be WAY better, but the difference os impossible to explain. But it is.
What's also great is that the cattle (or deer or whatever) are used to guns going off and it's normal to them. And also your presence walking past with a gun, because they are extremely intelligent. And your vehicle getting around... that they are used to it and that when they see it that it's a pleasant experience, for example, that you chuck them some Lucerne or similar.
So, do a bit of 22LR target shooting around them.

On the gun, I've always used a 22LR with 40gn solids. Right between the eyes from 2-3m away when they are quietly looking straight at you.
Hollow points, you don't want them, you want the bullet to break the skull and go through the brain.
The 22 magnum is just that bit more of a good thing, again with solids.
This is also great for the small -holdings owner, because a big rifle makes a helluva lot more noise.

Another thing along those lines, when shooting animals for meat, like anything wild, we ALWAYS head shoot. That snuffs out the brain instantly, so there is no stress, not even for a moment to throw a shot of adrenalin into the blood, and therefore the meat.
A chest shot animal for meat, heaven forbid one that's run a bit if lung shot, even heart shot, is never the same in eating quality. Don't believe me? Then you've never done it and compared. The old hunters chest shot is has just become the norm because of the trophy head hunting craze, or to make up for less skill-bigger target.

[Wapiti]

Meat quality is a big deal... because the animal has no stress.
An animal that's not been brain shot by us goes for dog stew.
Is it just as nutritious? Sure. But for eating quality and for respect for the animal, an instant unstressed death is way better.
I know many others would poo-poo this, but we'll make our own minds up. You spend 2 years looking after something, then make sure it has a great life the whole way through.

Trucked animals, from the farm to the sale yards, stressed from the minute they realise they have to go up the ramp into the truck at the farm, then to the abbotoir to go thirsty, smell the blood of their mates, the noise, the stress, that's the worst possible scenario. But with the crowded world, infested by human monsters intent on self-entitled over-running this planet, until theres no more room left, there's no other way except for those of us fortunate enough to have engineered a different life.

[bladeracer]

Rose's worst experience ever is when we dropped some girls at the abbatoir and Zavala just wanted to get back in the trailer. She obviously knew it wasn't a good place to be.

We much prefer to shoot them here at home, where they know nothing about it.

Meat quality is a big deal... because the animal has no stress.
An animal that's not been brain shot by us goes for dog stew.
Is it just as nutritious? Sure. But for eating quality and for respect for the animal, an instant unstressed death is way better.
I know many others would poo-poo this, but we'll make our own minds up. You spend 2 years looking after something, then make sure it has a great life the whole way through.

Trucked animals, from the farm to the sale yards, stressed from the minute they realise they have to go up the ramp into the truck at the farm, then to the abbotoir to go thirsty, smell the blood of their mates, the noise, the stress, that's the worst possible scenario. But with the crowded world, infested by human monsters intent on self-entitled over-running this planet, until theres no more room left, there's no other way except for those of us fortunate enough to have engineered a different life.

[Wm.Traynor]

???

Or should I say,,,,,, Please Explain.

Perhaps that was a bit mysterious of me so I'll explain. For instance, those "big" calibres are way outside my expectations, or how I am used to thinking. Maybe age has made me set in my ways

[bladeracer]

Had a big morning but everything went smoothly. One round for each did the trick. The butcher quartered them and they'll hang in the fridge van until he comes back next Thursday to butcher them, then we cart each tray down to the house and bag and label it all for the freezer. No idea how much meat there is, but it looks like plenty

Rose and I spent another couple hours cutting up the internals and putting it all into the compost pile, and tidying up the mess. Now we have to take the last girl back to the herd in the trailer, then go and get the gates and ramp from the niece's place and bring them back and set them up again in case we need to AI some more cows.

Working bee at the pistol club on Saturday and some of us will have a shoot afterwards. 13 attendances, 23 matches shot and 2997rds for the month so far.

[deye243]

I must be optimistic I just bought another new firearm

[bladeracer]

I must be optimistic I just bought another new firearm

Must be catching
I picked up two pistols a couple weeks ago. Got a please explain letter for the Erma Luger so once I get that sorted I have two permits to put in for a pair of Ruger Mk2's. And we have a permit in for an Anschutz .22 rifle for Rose, should be approved next week.

[No1Mk3]

I must be optimistic I just bought another new firearm

Must be catching
I picked up two pistols a couple weeks ago. Got a please explain letter for the Erma Luger so once I get that sorted I have two permits to put in for a pair of Ruger Mk2's. And we have a permit in for an Anschutz .22 rifle for Rose, should be approved next week.

The Erma on Collectors or an ET22? My Erma is an LA22 with a barrel extension.

[Wapiti]

Had a big morning but everything went smoothly. One round for each did the trick. The butcher quartered them and they'll hang in the fridge van until he comes back next Thursday to butcher them, then we cart each tray down to the house and bag and label it all for the freezer. No idea how much meat there is, but it looks like plenty

Rose and I spent another couple hours cutting up the internals and putting it all into the compost pile, and tidying up the mess. Now we have to take the last girl back to the herd in the trailer, then go and get the gates and ramp from the niece's place and bring them back and set them up again in case we need to AI some more cows.

Working bee at the pistol club on Saturday and some of us will have a shoot afterwards. 13 attendances, 23 matches shot and 2997rds for the month so far.

Great stuff mate, pics are awesome.
That'll keep you going for awhile!

[Wapiti]

???

Or should I say,,,,,, Please Explain.

Perhaps that was a bit mysterious of me so I'll explain. For instance, those "big" calibres are way outside my expectations, or how I am used to thinking. Maybe age has made me set in my ways

Nah mate, that's fine, its far from age. Not a cartridge I'd use either, and not because of cost... I mean animal welfare is paramount.
Imagine the stress Rose would've felt if things went astray with a .22, by the sounds she's a good person concerned about making sure the animals she brings up to have a good life have no chance to suffer.
The blokes that do it every day learnt exactly where to place the tiny bullet and are steady as a rock, they don't have any doubt that things aren't going to go well, so they aren't suffering from nerves.

Tell you what, a 9x19 cartridge is a very good alternative, best in a rifle for that sort of work. Especially with a 147gn hollow point. If we ever see an Aus made version of that Eureka thing, that might be a good thing, but those pumps and I think, those POF levers would be better. For those concerned about small holdings and full power rifle cartridges freaking out the gaybours.

[Wapiti]

Great looking cat Mate, (They always look better when they dead I reckon)
Unusual with the black bars across the gut.

Can't say I've ever taken any notice of the stripes going round the belly mate, maybe I should take more notice. Usually it's either those mongrel ginger striped things or grey with black stripes, that's all I seen to notice and then peg the things into a hollow log.

Some damn foxes around ATM, for a long time with the baiting program they've been absent. But I've been lazy lately, relying on the chopper-spread manufactured baits the SDRC organises a few times a year and they only operate up the back along the NP dingo fence boundary because I don't want my dogs picking one up when out with me. I'm going to have to start getting the injected offal ones next time and bury them at foxy's preferred dinner spots.

[bladeracer]

Cartridge choice was simply a result of rifle choice. .22 was out. I've had poor results with it, Rose remembers problems her dad had with it, all of our neighbours have similar stories, the butcher has seen it far too many times. I don't consider .22LR to be any safer than most larger cartridges so it mostly seems to be chosen purely for economy reasons. I have tons of ammo anyway. Whatever cartridge we chose, the ammo was paid for ten years ago, so cost is irrelevant. Same with the rifle, I have tons to choose from.

So, we wanted enough overkill to ensure a perfect drop. That gives us anything from a hot .38 Special to 8x57mm or .44 Mag, I even had 12ga buckshot and slugs on the list of options.

The real issue is that Rose is not a big girl. Length of pull is always a problem for her to comfortably shoulder a rifle. And, as she's been shooting some Cowboy matches with me last year she felt more comfortable with the lever-actions. She handled a bunch of rifles and decided on the Winchester 1894. It was coincidental that it is chambered in .30-30, we didn't specifically decide on the cartridge. I thought she'd find one of the 6.5mm carbines more suitable but I wanted her to be comfortable with the rifle.

I had zero concerns that any of the cartridges were likely to be a safety concern. Any of the lighter bullets are likely to break up immediately, and the heavier bullets are going to park themselves in the neck at most. We did not find either bullet in the neck, and there were no exits, so they probably stopped in the head in pieces. I've put the heads upside-down in the compost pile so should be able to recover the bullets in a few months. Last time I used the .44 Mag and we found the bullets in the top of the necks when removing the heads - maybe six to eight inches of travel, and mostly still intact.

The .30-30 was probably quieter than the .243 he usually uses, none of us used hearing protection.

I was just there to back Rose up in case a bad shot left a very nasty mess, and I really would've been more comfortable doing that with a holstered pistol than having two rifles in play at once in a dynamic compact scene, but laws.

Rose felt so much better switching them off herself than dumping them at the abbatoir, and that's the most important thing for us.

???

Or should I say,,,,,, Please Explain.

Perhaps that was a bit mysterious of me so I'll explain. For instance, those "big" calibres are way outside my expectations, or how I am used to thinking. Maybe age has made me set in my ways

Nah mate, that's fine, its far from age. Not a cartridge I'd use either, and not because of cost... I mean animal welfare is paramount.
Imagine the stress Rose would've felt if things went astray with a .22, by the sounds she's a good person concerned about making sure the animals she brings up to have a good life have no chance to suffer.
The blokes that do it every day learnt exactly where to place the tiny bullet and are steady as a rock, they don't have any doubt that things aren't going to go well, so they aren't suffering from nerves.

Tell you what, a 9x19 cartridge is a very good alternative, best in a rifle for that sort of work. Especially with a 147gn hollow point. If we ever see an Aus made version of that Eureka thing, that might be a good thing, but those pumps and I think, those POF levers would be better. For those concerned about small holdings and full power rifle cartridges freaking out the gaybours.

[Wapiti]

Whatever you're comfortable with mate, it's great we have a choice.
Interesting to always hear other people's justifications, we all have our standards were comfortable with.
Blokes in the area who do that stuff I know of, use 22 or 22 mag. Noise is always their reasons. 243, holy moly.
Me, I've used 22 forever, always solids, always front on and I'll never take a shot on a wound up animal. Always drop like a schoolbag hitting the ground when someone finds out there's hot chips at the tuckshop.
Is a 22 for everyone? No, and to keep the peace everyone can work out the reason why for themselves.

Last few, I've used 9mm, cos I've had it with me and I know it's on the money. Is it better? Instant death is dead.