Our Vacation was among the many bays and coves around picturesque Bonavista Bay, Newfoundland.  My wife and I drove our car and spent the last month and a half in Newfoundland in the family cottage overlooking Bonavista Bay.

But the cottage on the bay was a home base from which to explore.

Human life on Newfoundland is centered around the thousands of bays and coves, Inland, are thousands of miles of virgin forests where big game such as moose, caribou and black bears thrive.

And where rivers and lakes teem with Atlantic salmon and trout.

Cod Fishing on the bay is one of my favorite pastimes with friends and family. The cod are market size and plentiful right in front of our cottage.

Cod fishing in front of the cottage

I fished with Mike Hogarth and his friend Jeff Power on one such outing at Trinity Bay just up the peninsula. 

The old red building below in Peace Cove, Trinity Bay were formerly fishing rooms where cod were historically split and salted and placed outside to dry, then shipped to foreign markets in barrels. 

Peace Cove, Trinity Bay East

Peace Cove Trinity Bay

From shore, below you can see the lighthouse in picturesque Trinity which is part of the Bonavista Bay Peninsula.

Trinity Bay, Newfoundland

Cod Fishing is still very active commercially as this boat below suggests.

Newfoundland is a wild and wondrous place as well as sophisticated in the cities like St John’s I have visited. And the people are very friendly!

Maybe you might like to visit too!!

Good Exploring!

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Here in the Northeast we have had our share of ground soaking rain but in between rain storms, I went out and purchased a Savage semi-auto A22 rifle.  I can have more shooting fun at a lower cost for range time, practice, and just plain fun. Over the years, I kept a good supply of .22 ammo on hand. 

I like this rifle because it has all the physical attributes of a big game rifle such as a heavy button rifled barrel, a great looking high-cheek stock and an easily adjustable AccuTrigger.

My club sponsors an Aspirin Shoot (3/8″ size) that I have yet to participate.

Most shoot bolt actions for supreme accuracy but my new Savage Semi-Auto is shooting 1/2 inch 5 shot groups at 50 yards out-of-the-box with CCI MiniMags.  

Below first shot was high with some lube residue in the barrel. but a nice tight group for the other 4 shots at 50 yards. I expect to do better with time on the range, and testing out .22 match grade ammo. 

Today with the right rifle and ammo you can reach out to far off targets, predators and small game. Many ,22lr folks are getting serious about target shooting and like the supreme accuracy of a bolt action, I do too, but have yet to find a rifle I like for the price. 

Most all .22lr ammo I own shoot as good, better, best in this rifle but CCI .22LR Mini-Mags shoot best for my first day with the A22 at the range. 

Gun Issues I Found

Slide Bar bolt came off. Savage sending a new one. 

Clip loads very slow due to strong spring. 

Clip sometimes binds and will not easily fall out.

AccuTrigger has some creep.

If you are buying for a competitive shoot and expect to win, this gun is not for you.

But for otherwise hunt and plink, it has very good accuracy, it is fun at a low cost of around $500 for rifle.

Those who want to win at competitive 22lr shoots are spending at least $1000 to $5000 on gun and scope or even much more.

When Hornady and Ruger collaborated in 2007 to create the .375 Ruger cartridge, they also in future-sight, perhaps knowingly, or not, modernized many yet-to-be named magnum calibers such as the new PRC’s. 

The .375 Ruger cartridge has no belt, no taper, larger case capacity, and a larger shoulder with which to set headspace than the .375 Holland and Holland Magnum. 

I remember reading an article by Jon Sundra in 2011 below about future 7mm, .300 and other calibers that could come from this .375 Ruger collaboration.

https://www.rifleshootermag.com/editorial/ammunition_rs_wildcatting_200806/83581

Did you know that the 7mm PRC and .300 PRC cartridges are children of the .375 Ruger cartridge?

And likely more will come. 

Will they replace magnums? Time will tell.

For nearly a century, many commercial magnum calibers had a belt to set headspace because they were based upon their parent cartridge case, the famed .375 Holland and Holland Magnum created in 1912.

For decades, the H&H Magnum case availability made it easy for industry to reform the case for smaller diameter “magnum” calibers like the famed 7mm Remington Magnum.

I own the .375 Ruger and love it. But it is a magnum cartridge, without saying so, perhaps like the 416 Rigby. I still like the “Magnum” moniker however. 

But the .375 H&H Magnum cartridge will likely not go away and will not for many decades to come. There are far more .375 H&H Magnum rifles in Africa and world-wide today, thus the brass case will remain in mainstream manufacture for many decades.

And the .375 H&H Magnum still has a mystique-like following in Europe and Africa as a dangerous game round up to and including elephant.

So why create a beltless “magnum” case and drop the magnum moniker?

The .375 Ruger’s brass case seen above, removed the belt, case taper and gave a better shoulder in which to set headspace.

Is that enough, to eventually replace the .375 H&H Magnum case?

Replacing the 7mm Rem Mag and 300 Winchester Magnum whose parent case in the .375 Holland and Holland Magnum will be daunting as the belt does not bother me for head space.

Accuracy and energy in my Browning X-Bolt Speed 7mm Remington Magnum, when hand loaded with 175 g bullets, achieves the same energy as the 7mm PRC factory loaded cartridge but the PRC may edge out the 7mm Mag for long range target accuracy and use heavier bullets.

I shoot sub-moa with my 7 magnum.

As a hunter, that is more accuracy than I need. And if I want a heavier hunting bullet I would go to a 30 caliber.

I, for one, like the manly term “Magnum”. And I hand load the 7mm Remington Magnum with great success and accuracy for hunting big game. 

Target shooters will likely migrate to the 7mmPRC and 300PRC  for very long range target shooting but in very heavy rifles to reduce recoil. 

The hunting community will perhaps move much slower as we do love our 7mm Rem Mag’s for long range hunting accuracy and delivered energy.

And case components and rifles for the 7mm and 300 win magnums are on the shelves world-wide right now. Not next year or so. I am older and can’t wait my friends. 

In five years more PRC rifles and components may change that dynamic. We shall see.

In the meantime, I am happy with my 7mm magnum rifle for hunting all North American big game species. 

Good Shooting

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It’s all a matter of time, patience and some cash for me to get back outside to my Outdoor Life hunting, fishing, boating and camping. I began my spring with pulling my 2007 Key West boat and trailer out of storage with one of the brake pads frozen.

So much for chasing early striped bass. The fix included ordering pads and then having them installed and bleeding the air out of the trailer lines. It wasn’t cheap. But then it was windy and rainy which makes striper fishing crappy. Rain, rain go away as the saying goes. 

I got the boat home and cranked my brand new 200 hp Yamaha over and it purred in my driveway like a kitten. Nice! I was running a checklist before launch. I grabbed the hydraulic steering wheel and turned it to center the outboard but the helm wheel just spun in circles. Must have air in the hydraulic lines or something. Back to the shop.

A new helm and purged lines later, I was back in business. It is just money, right?

Next, the trailer, a bunk type needed TLC so I decided while in the shop to do repairs on it and will sell the trailer for a new roller type and protect my sizeable investment in the boat. Boat stands for; (Break Out Another Thousand $).

This is my third power boat and true to form, it is costly but you can’t trade its ocean and lake benefits of freedom on the water. Todays fiberglass, well equipped boats of my size can cost more than twice what I invested so I should take heart. 

And soon the sun will shine and the fish will bite once again.

Good Fishing and Boating and Sunshine!

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The Browning X-Bolt Speed 7mm Rem Mag 26 inch 9.5 twist barrel I have tested this past three months with a new Timney trigger (set at 3 lbs), simply put a wide smile on my face today. 

Some shooters say 7mm Rem Mag in 9.5 twist is said to rarely achieve 175g spitzers at 3000fps and MOA accuracy. This may be true for some, but not here.

I am here to tell you that I have achieved hand-loaded sub-MOA results with Nosler 175g ABLR and other bullet manufacturers to 3000 fps.

Using Alliant RL 22 or Vihtavuori N560 Smokeless Gun Powder have both pushed Nosler 175 ABLR to 3000 fps while achieving sub-MOA 3 shot 100 yd accuracy. . Standard Deviation hovers around 10 fps. I am using Norma Cases and CCI or Winchester Mag primers.

I have achieved the bench rest group below three times in a row today. It’s no fluke!

I attribute my success with attention to handloading detail, a great Browning rifle, a Leupold scope, a Timney Trigger, Nosler bullets and world class powders. Note: 7mm Rem Mag ammo is on the shelf across the world for hunters.

Good Shooting!

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I ran into a friend who shot a doe with spitzer type muzzleloader bullet. The deer ran hundreds of yards before dropping. And he recovered the bullet, which never mushroomed to deliver killing energy.

I advocate for semi-spitzers with rounded nose, round/flat nose or hollow point bullets for muzzleloaders that deliver sufficient energy to open/ mushroom the bullet. 

Do your homework and read up.

Avoid spitzer styles that are difficult to open and mushroom.

Most shots are taken at 40 to 60 yards and do not need sharply pointed bullets. 

You will be glad you changed bullets. I like a 300 grain semi-spitzer/hollow point for my 50 cal.  and at least 100 grains of pyrodex. 

Some examples of better mushrooming bullets.

Now is the time to shop!

I avoid sharp sleek pointed bullets that are not designed to readily expand. 

Good Shooting!